


Bucky Barnes, PI

by MyLadyDay



Series: Bucky Barnes, PI [1]
Category: Captain America (Movies), Marvel Cinematic Universe
Genre: Alternate Universe - Urban Fantasy, Biting, Consensual Blood Drinking, Cuddling, Elf Steve Rogers, Fluff, Fluff and Humor, Humor, Hydra (Marvel), M/M, Private Investigator Bucky Barnes, Stucky Big Bang 2016, Swearing, Vampire Bucky Barnes
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-07-14
Updated: 2016-08-09
Packaged: 2018-07-23 01:31:58
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 6
Words: 40,092
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7461312
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/MyLadyDay/pseuds/MyLadyDay
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>“You’re staying put and if you so much as think of jumping me, I will run this stake through your chest,” the elf said with a stony face and an honest-to-god stake in his paw of a hand. Bucky noticed there was no sign of the mystery person Sitwell was meeting, meaning they probably slid out the back door or something, but that train of thought was interrupted when the words finally sank in. </p><p>  <b> In which Bucky is a bored, yet content private investigator and Steve just doesn't know when to let go.</b></p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> This is my entry for the Stucky Big Bang ^^  
> My artist partners were butlerbookbinding and atashiwatashi on tumblr (links to art to be added when all art is posted). A huge thanks to the amazing artists and wearing_tearing for cheering me on and holding my hand when I doubted myself <3  
> All my love to Aerle who beta'd this entire thing for me even tho she's not even in the fandom ^^

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Art in this chapter was made by butlerbookbinding.tumblr.com

There were voices to be heard just outside his office, one belonging to Sam, which Bucky could recognize in his sleep at this point, and an unknown voice of a woman with an obvious hint of distress recognizable in it. He hadn’t been paying attention to the words being said, knowing Sam would just send the potential client in if it was something that might interest Bucky, and just hearing this woman was upset made Bucky aware that Sam would, without a doubt, let her through. As far as assistants go, he turned out to be a good one; he had a way of calming people when they were upset about whatever it was they came to Bucky for, be it a missing sibling, a missing pet or a cheating spouse. Sam treated all of their clients with sympathy and calm before sending them in to talk to Bucky.

It wasn’t long before a soft knock sounded on the frosted door of his office, and Sam peeked in.

“Someone here to see you,” he said before leveling him with a stern look. “Be nice and try not to scare her away with your brooding.”

Bucky glared at that, but Sam was long beyond the point where he’d be phased by it even a little. The fae, as it turns out, were much tougher than Bucky was led to believe, and Sam was probably made out of even sturdier stuff than the rest of his kind.

Sam turned away with a raised eyebrow, clearly unimpressed, holding the door open for their potential client, and Bucky sat up straighter, doing his best to look professional and put together even if he’d had just gotten out of bed. Even though he was quite compassionate in general and listened to his clients’ cases with nothing but rapt attention, Bucky knew he’d long since lost the finesse needed to talk to anyone even remotely upset. He stopped dwelling on that a while ago as well, when he hired Sam to help out and talk to people. After all, it was more in his nature than Bucky’s to be around people. Shaking that train of thought off, Bucky directed his gaze towards the door instead.

As soon as the redhead walked in, it was 1943 all over again for Bucky. Back then, Peggy had strode in just like this, with a walk full of confidence even if she put up a damsel in distress front. Her hair had been curled perfectly and lips painted a bloody red, her heels clicking against the wooden floor. Of course Bucky remembered the last time a siren had walked through his door, no one really forgot something like that, because he ended up fighting a war overseas alongside the craziest pack of wolves he’d had the pleasure of meeting. Not to mention he was also accepted into the pack, but that was a story he’d rather not think about.

And now a different siren, because that’s what she obviously was, walked towards his desk reminding him of Peggy in several ways; from the walk and the perfect hair, the bloody red on her lips and the click-click of her heels as she walked, but mostly it was the general appearance of a helpless woman that somehow wasn’t quite right. Just like it wasn’t right on Peggy. The entire scene looked straight out of a 40s film noir about a hardboiled private detective and, like the serious professional he was, Bucky barely contained a cackle and the urge to narrate all of it in his head with the proper slang he hadn’t used since back then.

Bucky didn’t react in any way, though, sitting behind his desk with a hopefully pleasant smile as he offered her a seat that she took with a grateful smile. Sam closed the door without another word, leaving Bucky all alone with this woman. He spent a moment just looking at her and, instead of finding it unnerving, she looked right back as if assessing him. Based on what, he didn’t know.

“How can I help you, Ms.…?” Bucky trailed off with a subtle wave of his hand, prompting her to introduce herself. He counted himself lucky for being mostly immune to a siren’s call, though, even before she started speaking. There was no doubt about what would happen if he had no resistance at all.

“Mrs.,” she started with a smile, “Natasha Sitwell. It’s a pleasure to meet you, Mr Barnes, I’ve only heard the best about your work.”

Bucky had a hard time determining whether she was telling the truth about her name or not, but that wasn’t important to him. A job was a job, and he didn’t care whether she was the wife or the mistress. He was half tempted to ask just who she heard those things from, but refrained from saying anything, only prompting her to continue speaking with a wave of his hand.

“I was hoping you’d be able to look into something for me,” she continued. “You see, I think my husband is cheating on me. After so many years of marriage, no less,” she said the last part mournfully, with a twist to her lips that showed her displeasure that was closely followed by a sad sigh. “I’d be happy if you could prove me wrong,” she added with a hopeful smile. Mentally, Bucky applauded himself for recognizing all of her emotional cues. That has proven itself difficult in a few situations before that had generally ended badly for him.

Things usually tended to end badly for him, actually.

“I know he doesn’t work late as often as he says he does,” she continued, completely oblivious to the way Bucky’s mind drifted for a moment. “But he won’t tell me what he’s doing, and I don’t know what to do anymore.”

She sniffed sadly, pulling out a tissue from her purse, no longer looking at him, and Bucky could admit she looked exactly like a broken hearted woman.

“I know you must get these kinds of requests a lot,” she continued without looking up. “It’s nothing exciting to investigate, I’m sure, but I would be very grateful if you could do this.”

He had to remind himself that most stereotypes weren’t true, scolding himself for assessing her as deceitful at first glance, just because of what she was. Bucky was better than that and he knew it.

“It’s alright, Mrs Sitwell, I don’t mind,” Bucky replied with a practiced smile, sounding soothing just like Sam taught him. The fact he needed a fae to teach him how to show the appropriate emotions was utterly embarrassing, but turned out to be useful in situations like these. After all, ‘charming to attract prey’ was his only natural setting since he became a vampire and that wasn’t quite as helpful as he’d like most of the time.

“I’ll gladly look into this for you,” he said, hoping he conveyed the sincerity behind the sentiment. He really didn’t mind these cases as they were straightforward with absolutely no chance of getting into trouble. “If you’d just e-mail me the most recent picture of your husband and some basic information, like where he works and lives, I can start working on it tomorrow.”

This part was easier and sounded, luckily, more natural than possibly anything else he’d said to her. He can’t help it, though. No matter how much he hated stereotypes, there was no way around the fact that he was a solitary creature by nature. And he did not choose a profession dedicated to helping people just to prove that wrong either, no matter how much Sam claimed that was the case.

She seemed to perk up at his words, offering him a wide smile. “Thank you so much,” she said as if Bucky had already proven her husband was faithful.

Bucky didn’t mention that her suspicions were most likely right, if his experience was anything to go by, instead he just picked up one of his cards and handed it to her. It had all his info on it, including the e-mail, his phone number and of course the office address.

“I can e-mail my report to you, unless you’d prefer to come back here if and when I find something to report in person,” Bucky added, completely at ease in his professional mindset. The actual work was what came so easy to him, it was natural to follow people without them knowing he was even there, gathering information, and finding people. He didn’t usually mention the part about following people without them knowing, though; even if it was obvious what he was, Bucky knew most people tended to treat vampires with distrust and he wouldn’t be doing himself any favors by pointing out the darker aspects of his nature. All the same, the stealth was definitely a bonus in his line of work.

“It’s alright if you just send it to me,” Natasha told him with a small smile, looking slightly less sad than she did when she had walked in. "I'd hate to waste more of your time than I already have. I'm sure you have other business to attend to."

Honestly, he did have other cases to work and his time would have been better spent outside on a job than in the office, but he couldn't very well tell her that. Tact might not have been Bucky's strong suit, but that didn't mean he was a complete idiot, even if Sam was inclined to disagree with that particular statement.

"You're not wasting my time, " Bucky assured her, hoping he sounded sincere enough. It wasn't that he didn't care for her or her problems, but this was just a job. One he'd been doing for decades now, day in and day out, and even if he didn't mind investigating cheating husbands, the part where he had to actually take the job from a sad spouse and then break the bad news to them was wearing on him. He'd be the first one to admit that he wasn't made for prolonged contact with others; after all, vampires were notoriously lone creatures.

"All the same," she started before he could say anything else, "I should go now and let you work."

With that, she was out of the chair and shaking Bucky's hand only to leave the office as fast as she'd appeared, leaving Bucky to wonder whether she'd been there at all. He could remember vividly how he'd felt this way when Peggy had left as well, finding out that he wasn't quite as completely immune to a siren's spell as he'd been led to believe.

Sam appeared in the doorway after she'd left, leaning against the doorframe and just looking into the office for a moment. He was generally known for always having the right words and always being the cheerful fae that just _understood_ everyone. Bucky, though, saw other sides of him, other than the snarky smartass side that seemed to only be a thing when it was just the two of them. But there was also the fact that he wasn't as trusting as people made him out to be.

"Do you think there was something off about her?" Sam asked seriously, but the frown he was sporting revealed that he wasn't quite sure what he meant either. "I can't really put my finger on it." Bucky rarely saw him unsure of anything and, really, that was what made him think hard about their latest client.

"I don't know," Bucky said, feeling a frown pull on his own face. "I mean, I thought so when she walked in, but I'm not sure anymore."

Sam nodded, clearly lost in thought as he stared into nothing in particular for a moment longer before he visibly snapped out of it and turned to look at Bucky.

"Well, I'm done for the day and I'm not coming back at all until next week. I hope you haven't forgotten, though I don't care if you did because you gave me the week off ages ago and there is no force in the world that can make me come back to work before next Monday," Sam said without letting Bucky interrupt.

Not that he was planning it, but Bucky did find himself tempted to tell Sam he'd changed his mind just because of the attitude.

"You don't have to come back at all as far as I'm concerned," he said instead, knowing how much this time off meant to both Sam and T'Challa.

"You'd be lost without me and you know it," Sam said with an all knowing grin. "I'll see you next week. Don't burn the place down while I'm gone," he added and then he was gone, laughter sounding in his wake before Bucky could protest because he'd been running the office by himself long before Sam came along.

He could hear Sam locking the front door behind him, knowing that Bucky was on his way out to finish the last case on the roster before the one he’d just gotten. That case was what occupied his mind as soon as Sam left and Bucky turned to his work. This was the last night he'd have to trail his mark, and Bucky wasn't sure whether he wanted to discover something or not.

It wasn't unusual for law firms to hire him, especially the smaller ones that didn't have in-house investigators such as the one that hired him this time as well. What was unusual, though, was the fact that Nelson, of Nelson & Murdock law firm, hired him to investigate Murdock, also of Nelson & Murdock. That was definitely a first, and he had to admit it was intriguing. Bucky had worked for them before, and they seemed to be close. Still, he'd accepted the job to find out what it was that Murdock did at night after the two parted ways.

Weird case, to say the least, but Bucky figured it'd be better for him to handle this rather than let Foggy see someone else about the matter. So Bucky turned off the lights in the office before he slipped his leather jacket on over the dress shirt Sam insisted he wore to work. As far as he was concerned, the tie was a bit much, but he could live with it. Besides, it still reminded him of the way he used to dress back before the war.

Bucky didn't consider himself sentimental very often, knowing when to let the past stay in the past, but he did miss some aspects of his long life. For example, the fashion before the war which he was a bit vain about at the time.

Glancing at the window and the darkness that settled on the city, Bucky reminded himself that there was no point in bothering with his looks anymore considering he only went outside at night. Looking like a hobo, as Sam tended to tell him, made him blend in even easier than he was used to. The skill to blend in and go by without being noticed was the cornerstone of his business, after all.

Even so, sometimes he missed looking put together with his hair slicked back and his suit pressed perfectly. Somehow that made him the perfect urban predator before practices like that became frowned upon.

With that thought, Bucky left his office through the window and silently descended the fire escape, his vision still perfect in the dark alley. He walked the short distance through the darkness before he stepped out into the street where there was more light and more people passing by on the sidewalk, no one paying attention to him in the slightest. That worked in his favor as he turned down the street and towards the Nelson & Murdock office where he knew Matt would still be for a short while longer. The fact it was the end of autumn and the days were shorter and shorter the closer they were to winter made things easier for Bucky, really, meaning he could go out earlier than he normally would.

The thing about daylight, though, was that he simply didn't like it. Vampires didn't burn in the sun nor did they sparkle or anything similar. In fact, many vampires went out during daytime and led normal lives. Well, as normal as one can live with constant sunburns, if they weren’t careful. Bucky, however, never liked it, even when he'd been human and simply avoiding it now was honestly easier than suffering through the mild headache it induced.

Bucky moved through the streets, passing unnoticed by most, without any sign of fatigue due to the distance he covered. It was a nice night to take a walk, Bucky tried to keep that in mind rather than think of being paid to stalk someone he knew.

Still, he’d been tailing Matt for a week now and there was nothing unusual about his activity. Bucky could tell that frustrated Foggy to no end, but it wasn’t something he could change so he kept his comments about the ridiculousness of the situation to himself, like he usually did. It wasn’t up to him to question his client’s reasoning. Well, most of the time. But really, Matt had spent every evening in his apartment for the entire week, unless he went out with Foggy.

Exactly the reason for Bucky’s boredom with this particular case, and yet he was aware things could have been much worse. Given the boring nature of this case, Bucky wasn’t too torn up about being late to his own schedule. Usually, Bucky’s night of stalking started on the rooftop of the building across the street from the Nelson & Murdock office. From there on it was a fairly short trip across rooftops as Matt walked home. After that there was a lot of staring at dark windows, only to catch glimpses of Matt inside the apartment.

Running a bit late as he was, Bucky went past the office and continued towards Matt’s apartment building. The distance was a barely noticeable one to him, but as soon as Bucky made it to his goal, he noticed a very obvious change in the established routine.

Surprisingly, Matt was jumping off the roof of his building onto the one closest to it, dressed in all black with a mask covering the upper half of his face. If Bucky had ever thought Matt was ordinary in any way, this would have been a complete surprise, but if Bucky had anything, it was a knack for recognizing other non-humans. It was a habit he kept from way back when humans still made up the majority of the population and everyone else were still hiding under the guise of humanity, if they could pass as a human that is. Finding others like himself was difficult back then, borderline impossible, really, unless they knew they could reveal themselves to others.

Matt never mentioned anything, but Bucky had known since they met. What Matt was exactly, though, Bucky had no clue, not that it was any of his business anyway. That did nothing to explain the current situation, though, that included impressive jumping, stealth outfits and a mask.

The case made a very exciting turn as far as Bucky was concerned and he was probably a bit more excited about it than he should have been, considering Matt was looking like a criminal at the moment and wouldn't that be a hell of a thing to break to Foggy. He sincerely hoped he wouldn't have to, really.

Keeping a safe distance between them, Bucky followed after Matt, staying out of sight and relying mostly on his senses to keep track of where Matt was going. He didn't actually see Matt anymore, but Bucky knew immediately when he flung himself through a window up ahead and found himself surrounded by several hostile people. Matt, though, seemed to have it under control. Bucky made it to the nearest rooftop in time to see Matt take down four thugs without breaking a sweat. It was impressive, actually, enough so that Bucky didn't feel the need to intervene, deciding instead to stay up on his perch and just watch it unfold.

Matt had the situation well under control; maybe even surprisingly so, for a mild mannered lawyer. Though Bucky supposed that part was mostly an act, given the new information he suddenly acquired.

Bucky zoned out for a moment, lost in thought about just how truly Matt had him fooled, and that moment was enough for the tables to turn. Matt was crashing through the window head first and flying through the air before he disappeared into the darkness of the alley below. Instead of going after the thugs, Bucky jumped down after Matt, already knowing he was alive, but the extent of his injuries, if there even were any, was a mystery. He’d hate to admit he was worried, but he did come to think of Matt as his friend somewhere along the way and Bucky really didn’t have many of those these days.

As soon as he touched down into the alley, Bucky was greeted by a painful sounding groan, and it didn’t take long to figure out where it was coming from. Bucky found himself leaning against a disgusting looking dumpster, carefully not looking into it, focusing instead on the discolored brick wall behind the dumpster. His arms were crossed in front of him, leaning against the dirty surface.

"I was sure you stopped following me," Matt said, from inside the dumpster, sounding more relaxed than one would expect in a situation like this.

"Just running late today," Bucky replied calmly, as if they were discussing the weather. That might have been a poor comparison, given that one of them was blind and the other didn't go outside during daytime, but whatever.

"So," Bucky started, casually, after a moment’s pause "you're the Devil all the news have been going on about." He didn't phrase it like a question because it wasn't meant to be one. The mask and the fighting and the general feel of the situation gave it all away.

"I wouldn't call myself a devil," Matt said, admitting to nothing. "A concerned citizen, maybe."

"And you never mentioned to Foggy just how concerned you are about the state of our lovely city," Bucky said, again making it a point not to say it like a question. After all, if Foggy knew, he wouldn't have hired Bucky to investigate.

Matt said nothing to that, but Bucky could almost feel the guilt radiating from the dumpster. He honestly wished he could say this was the weirdest conversation he'd had in a New York alley, but alas, it would have been a lie. Still, he'd come to know Foggy and Matt pretty well so giving Matt a pep talk was easier than it would have been had the situation involved someone else. After all, Bucky did honestly care about the two of them, and Karen, and showing that came easier than expected.

"You know he's worried about you, right?" Bucky asked softly. "That's why he asked me to figure out what you're up to and if you're in trouble."

Matt sighed, but he sounded more resigned than annoyed. "I know." The admission sounded even more guilty than the silence that preceded it, if such a thing was possible. "Are you gonna tell him what you saw?" Matt asked, sitting up with a cacophony of sounds coming from the dumpster until his head popped up out of the dark and Bucky could see him. Well, technically he could have seen him sooner, if he'd actually glanced down into the dumpster, but Bucky knew better than to stare at a man when he's literally down in the dumps.

"I think you should be the one to tell him," Bucky answered honestly, looking at Matt now that his head was peeking out of the dumpsters and he pulled his mask off.

"I don't like it when you're being reasonable," Matt said, his lips curled downward. Bucky suspected that had more to do with the fact he'd have to come clean to Foggy and deal with keeping it a secret for who knows how long rather than Bucky being reasonable, but still.

"Don't tell Sam, he'll never let me hear the end of it," Bucky joked, offering a smile to ease the tension. Sometimes, showing emotion came easy to him when it came to the people he knew and cared about. Matt smiled in reply, but Bucky could tell he was already thinking about the impending conversation with Foggy.

"Y'need a hand?" he asked to break the silence, standing up straight and offering a hand to Matt to help him out of the dumpster. He was willing to be this close to a dumpster only for so long; it stank to high heaven, and Bucky suspected he didn't smell any nicer at the moment. Knowing he was getting the rest of the night off, though, made the stench slightly more bearable.

Matt shook his head, clambering out on his own, reminding Bucky so much of Howard that he couldn't help the smile. It was probably too fond, he suspected, something that might be odd to people that didn't know him, but Howard had managed to bring it out in him from time to time. 

"I guess there's some place I need to be right now," Matt said once he was back on solid ground, looking exactly like he'd been lying in garbage up until a moment ago.

"Maybe you should take a shower and change your clothes first," Bucky suggested with a quirk of his lips. One thing that always came easy to him was the teasing. Sam may have acted like he thought Bucky what sass was, but honestly, that was one of the few things that stayed the same since before he was turned.

Matt frowned at that, as if smelling himself, or a New York alley, for the first time.

"You're probably right," he admitted. For the first time since they met, Matt looked nervous, almost fidgeting where he stood with his head down. There was still an air of determination about him, though, and Bucky figured this was his cue to go back home, maybe start working on the new case he'd gotten.

"I'll leave you to it," Bucky said as he started making his way out of the alley and onto the street again. "Good luck," he added even though it didn't look like Matt was paying attention to him, only offering a distracted wave in reply before Bucky was out and on his way back to Brooklyn.

He was given a wide berth, when he made the effort to walk at a more sedate pace, but that didn't bother him really. People have always been wary of him, what with the general predatory dark nature everyone associated with vampires. It sucked to be viewed as nothing more than a dark, scary stereotype parents used to scare their children into behaving, but sadly, Bucky got used to it. There were worse things to get used to.

Of course, the fact that he stank like garbage in addition to looking like death probably didn't help him in the slightest.

In fact, it was only incentive to move faster and get home to take a much needed shower as soon as possible. It was still early, though, and he suddenly found himself with nothing to do for the rest of the night. There was always the possibility of getting some sleep and not feeling like shit when he started to follow Mr. Sitwell. He knew there was no way every case would be doable at night, but Bucky could still hope.

The office, when Bucky finally reached it, was eerily empty. It always looked that way immediately after Sam left and it shouldn't have made such a difference to Bucky, not after the decades he spent completely on his own before Sam came along, but he couldn't really help it. He'd come to rely on Sam more than he led on mostly.

Bucky decided to ignore that for the moment, though, climbing the stairs to his apartment above the office for a quick shower and a change of clothes. He was half tempted to burn the stuff he took off, but at the same time he didn't want to deal with setting stuff on fire in the middle of the city. That was usually frowned upon.

So instead he dumped the dirty clothes into the laundry and went back into the office, hair still dripping from the shower, to check his e-mail. He had plenty of research to do on Mr. Sitwell before he could start his surveillance and the plan was that he started on that the following day. It looked like a regular, cut-and-dry cheating husband case, which meant it would be boring and probably short. So the sooner Bucky got it done, the sooner he'd be able to stop tailing the man in broad daylight and got back to his nocturnal schedule.

As promised, the e-mail from Mrs. Sitwell was waiting in his inbox, and Bucky sat back in his chair while the files and photos downloaded onto his computer before he went through it. As far as information packages made by a scorned wife went, this one was more meticulous and detailed than what he was used to. It contained a few pictures of the guy and, upon seeing him, Bucky couldn't help but notice just how far Mrs. Sitwell was out of her husband's league. Trying to imagine why this guy would cheat on her was difficult, but luckily it wasn't in Bucky's job description.

Carefully, he read through the stuff she sent, memorizing the schedule Jasper Sitwell kept to. Jasper Sitwell was not an adventurous or interesting person on paper. He went to work in the morning, took his lunch break at the same every day and he came home at almost the same time every day, even when he was working late.

Other than the enigma that was his wife, Jasper Sitwell seemed like a completely boring person and Bucky was suddenly not looking forward to having to tail him for at least a week.

* * *

Sleep wasn’t exactly something Bucky needed to function, just like breathing, but he still did it out of habit. To him it felt like it was only recently that he had to pretend to be human and old habits of doing his best to blend into the crowd were hard to shake. Not to mention that it was extremely useful for work.

It wasn't a skill he needed at the moment, though, given that it was so early in the morning, most of the people he passed by were still half asleep and didn't give a shit about him or anything else for that matter. The fact his mark was no better only worked in Bucky's favor, even if he wasn't exactly worried he might get spotted.

What he worried about instead was the fact that he had to hang around the building where Sitwell worked all day long, just in case he left early or something. As he settled into a comfortable booth in a cozy little cafe across the street from the office building Sitwell entered moments earlier, Bucky had to remind himself yet again that he actually liked his job and boredom wasn’t enough to make him quit. So he settled in, ordered a coffee and pulled out a small paperback out of his jacket pocket.

The plan was to read for a while, just until he finished his coffee, then taking a walk around the block and settling somewhere else to continue his surveillance until it was time for Sitwell to take his lunch. The last thing Bucky needed was getting noticed by the staff for loitering around the cafe. Not even hipsters camped out in there for that long, and he’d definitely draw attention, even more so than he already had. For some reason, vampires weren’t known as coffee drinkers, and Bucky didn’t really hide what he was anymore.

Luckily, it wasn’t too sunny, and Bucky could honestly say the waiting wasn’t too horrible, but he had to admit it was a relief when Sitwell came out of the building for lunch. A change of scenery, even if it was a short walk to a deli nearby, was completely welcome. It was no less boring than standing in the same spot for hours, but it was a change nonetheless, and Bucky prepared himself mentally for a week of this boredom.

It was actually always like that, with most cases being completely boring, like staring at Matt’s windows for days on end and trailing businessmen who did absolutely nothing out of the ordinary, and Bucky always promised himself he’d take on something more interesting next time, something exciting for a change. And then another boring simple case came along, and he took it anyway, then he usually spent a lot of time on the job bitching about it to himself. If nothing, he was at least consistent in how he worked.

The inner bitching was interrupted, though, when Sitwell walked past the deli he supposedly usually ate lunch in and kept going until he reached a small unassuming bookshop down the street. Bucky was immediately suspicious because that little shop looked like it was a gathering place for hippies. There were birds painted on the front windows, for heaven’s sake.

Still, Sitwell went inside, and Bucky had no choice but to follow, figuring this might be a meeting place between him and his mistress. If that was the case, Bucky could get proof immediately and be done with the case far sooner than expected, which would be great.

A tiny bell chimed as Bucky opened the door and it sounded once again when he closed it behind himself. He was immediately looking around, trying to spot Sitwell amongst the bookcases in the space that was alarmingly bigger on the inside than the outside suggested. With his senses and instincts, finding a specific person in a single room, no matter how big, was anything but problematic, and Bucky knew quickly just where Sitwell was.

And then he realized there were birds chirping from all around him, settled on perches on top of bookcases. The floor was a mix of grass and flat stones and there was an actual tree growing in the middle of the room, its branches growing through the ceiling and between the bookcases.

He was stunned for a moment, something that didn’t happen often or at all, really, before he forced himself to get back to the task at hand, his attention fully on Sitwell once again. Bucky ducked behind the nearest bookcase as his ears remained focused on the sound of Sitwell’s pulse. He sneaked closer under the guise of browsing through the books until there was nothing but a single bookcase between them, and Bucky could make out another person with Sitwell. They weren’t talking, though, which was also all kinds of suspicious and made it a bit more difficult to discern whether it was a woman or a man. Not that it made much of a difference to him.

“Step away from those people and walk out of my shop slowly,” a voice said from behind Bucky, actually startling him, but he did nothing to actually show it.

Unfortunately, it seemed to draw the attention of the two people he was trying to listen to and they scrambled apart, Sitwell staring straight at Bucky as he walked around him and the man behind him until he could escape through the door. Bucky made to follow without sparing a glance to the person who exposed him, but an impressively big arm stopped him in his tracks.

“Where the hell do you think you’re going?” the voice asked, and Bucky turned to look at the man it belonged to, with obvious annoyance.

“I’m leaving your shop, like you asked,” he ground out, eyes trained at the actual fucking elf he was faced with. If he wasn’t as annoyed at getting his cover blown in front of the person he was investigating, Bucky would have been more stunned at actually coming face to face with an elf. In the middle of the city. “Now get out of my way,” he said instead, glaring at the elf with all the malice he had in him. It was easier to do than one might expect.

“You’re staying put and if you so much as think of jumping me, I will run this stake through your chest,” the elf said with a stony face and an honest-to-god stake in his paw of a hand. Bucky noticed there was no sign of the mystery person Sitwell was meeting, meaning they probably slid out the back door or something, but that train of thought was interrupted when the words finally sank in.

“You just asked me to leave, slowly, which I am trying to do,” Bucky said lowly, eyes narrowing at the stake that was still pointed at his chest before his gaze slid to the guy’s face. “So move and let me get out of here.”

“If you think I’ll let you walk out of here and hunt that man down, you’ve got another thing coming, pal.” The guy’s voice was so cold, it almost gave Bucky chills. And maybe it would have, had it not been for the words being said.

“Do you think I was hunting that guy to feed off of him?” Bucky asked incredulously before the anger caught up. “The stereotypes about vampires are just stereotypes, you fucking hippy!” he said with a glare, crossing his arms in front of his chest to stop himself from punching the guy.

“I’m an elf, you gothic shit!” the guy had the audacity to yell. “And you were being a complete goddamn creep, excuse me for spotting you following that guy.”

The guy was arguing with him, but the stake was finally lowered. Bucky honestly couldn’t believe the guy had an actual wooden stake. It even looked decorated, too. He hadn’t seen one of those in decades or more.

“I was following him, not hunting him. There’s a difference,” Bucky told him. “Also stakes can’t kill a vampire.”

“There is no difference, you’re shady as hell and I have every right to doubt everything you say.”

Bucky’s eyes narrowed again; he took offence to being called shady as hell. He was an upstanding citizen, thank you very much, and at this point he’d have to prove it to this hippy unless he wanted to deal with the law. Or worse, a vigilante trying to stab him with a piece of wood. The guy was hot, Bucky could admit that, but he was too pissed for that right now. So he reached into his jacket pocket, ignoring the twitch of the guy’s arm that revealed just how close he was to stabbing Bucky, and grabbed one of the business cards he kept in there.

Without a word, Bucky extended his arm towards the elf, offering the card with a challenging glare. He was pretty sure the expression looked something like what the elf wore as well. After a short bout of staring, the card was taken from Bucky’s hand and he got to watch the elf read what was written on it before the words sank in.

 

                               

Bucky could pinpoint the exact moment everything became clear to the guy and he could almost smell the embarrassment. Almost being the key word because he may have spent a long while with a pack of werewolves, but that didn’t mean they had rubbed off on him.

“The PI stands for private investigator,” Bucky said helpfully in the silence that stretched on. “In case you weren’t sure.”

The glare he got in reply to that was nothing short of impressive. Truth be told, Bucky was sure he would have been scared of the guy even a little bit if he weren’t pissed about the whole situation. As boring as the job was, Bucky wasn’t too thrilled about losing it on the first day.

“I got it, thanks,” the guy replied, looking anything but impressed and sounding more done with everything than Bucky had ever heard.

“I’d apologize now, if I were you,” Bucky said with a wave of his hand, doing his best to look innocent even if he knew he was kind of pushing it now. The guy was already pissed, and Bucky knew for a fact that he wasn’t helping.

The intense look he got, though, was more on the sending-a-shiver-down-his-spine type than fear inducing. Bucky wasn’t sure how to handle that at the moment.

“I’m sorry your parents named you Bucky,” the guy said, glancing down at the card again. “Sounds unfortunate.” And just like that, the shivery feeling of that stare was ruined.

“I hope you fall on that stake and die,” Bucky said, maybe a bit harshly even if he wasn’t exactly serious about it, but the guy had it coming. Really.

“A bit harsh, don’t you think?” the guy asked.

“I’m out of here and I swear, if you try to stop me again I will make sure you fall on that stake,” Bucky threatened, letting his fangs flash just a bit. Not enough for it to be a real threat considering it wasn’t meant to be one. “Repeatedly.”

Bucky wouldn’t say the guy looked scared, but he certainly seemed a bit dazed as he stepped to the side and let Bucky pass. He could have been out of there in a flash, but Bucky decided to walk slowly instead, allowing himself to turn back and glare a bit before he walked out into the street and started the walk home. It was actually a walk because he wanted to figure out what to say to Mrs. Sitwell about what happened other than the fact his cover was blown for the first time in his entire career.

God, he fucking hated elves.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm on myladyday.tumblr.com if you don't mind a multi-fandom mess of a blog ^^


	2. Chapter 2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Art in this chapter is made by butlerbookbinding.tumblr.com <3

Since he moved into the city, Steve has seen a lot of strange things and people, and he’d come to learn that absolutely nothing could be considered out of the ordinary. So he’d seen a lot of stuff that was kind of really out there, for his standards at least. No one batted an eyelash when wolves shifted in the street, though Steve couldn’t say he’d never seen that what with his time in the army with the wolf squad. But he’d also seen a gang of dwarves burst out of the ground in the middle of the street while being chased by a mole beast that technically shouldn’t have resided in the city.

The vampire from the day before, though, definitely took the cake. Both because of the level of creepiness about him and the entire interaction between them. Also maybe because he was hot, but that was entirely beside the point. Steve still maintained that he had every right to intervene because the guy was definitely suspicious since the moment his creepy ass walked through the door. He was sure some of the grass actually wilted and one of the mechanical birds dropped dead from being exposed to that level of creepy.

Okay, so maybe he couldn’t prove that the bird stopped working because of that, but it was a completely valid assumption. Just like the one Steve made about the vampire had been valid, right up until the point where it turned out the vampire was actually a private investigator and not a random predator, but still. 

Steve was at a point where he could admit that what happened was completely his fault for jumping to conclusions and not dismissing stereotypes as the silly uninformed babble they actually were. He, of all people, should know just how wrong stereotypes usually are considering people have been assuming stuff about him ever since he came to New York. Elves weren’t exactly all that common this far from any kind of forest so of course Steve’s mere presence drew attention. It was a small price to pay, though, for being as free as he was.

He stopped that train of thought before it could turn even more to the past than it already had and instead Steve focused on the bird laid out on the counter before him. There were tiny gears and springs laid out around the mechanical body of the bird while he poked at it with tweezers that looked genuinely ridiculous in his hand. He could have easily brought the bird to life with his magic, just like he’d done with over half of the ones around the shop, but this time he’d felt like trying to actually fix the mechanism.

It gave him some time to let his mind wander, mostly to the scary vampire with a silly name. The guy was hot, Steve was getting to a point where he could admit it to himself without a problem, but that wasn’t what made Steve think about him. He hadn’t realized until basically moments ago that he hadn’t actually even thought of apologizing for the whole ‘mistaking the guy for a creeper and probably exposing him while he was obviously working’ thing. To be fair, the guy was being a jerk so Steve hadn’t felt bad about it at the time, but now that he had time to think about it, Steve did have a tiny bit of remorse about what happened. 

The business card he left on the edge of the counter didn’t really help matters either, just reminding him of this Bucky guy. Steve could read the phone number from where he stood and picking up the phone seemed so simple at the moment, but it also felt like an easy way out. He was raised better than that.

Barely a moment later, the tiny tweezers were out of Steve’s hand, and he took the card to take a closer look at it, as if he hadn’t memorized what it said already. He’d be able to find his way to the address listed on the card without a problem and not only because it was close to his place. Still, he kept staring at it as if it held answers to all his troubles, most of which involved a certain vampire at the moment. Well, not apologizing to a certain vampire. 

The chime of the bell snapped Steve out of his thoughts, and he straightened before slipping the card into his pocket. He plastered a friendly smile onto his face as he turned towards the door to greet whoever had entered the shop. It didn’t take more than a glance to notice that the two men who entered the shop weren’t customers. 

Steve could easily recognize the military training in the way they moved and the way they surveyed the space before they were even fully inside it. It was reason enough to put Steve on edge as soon as he laid eyes on them. Thanks to his training, though, he did nothing to react and his smile didn’t slip, not even when the first of the two looked into his direction. 

“Hi!” Steve greeted with an easy smile all the while trying to discern what exactly they were and whether or not they were armed. “Can I help you?” 

“Hi,” the first guy said, smiling at Steve in a way that was probably meant to be friendly, but didn’t quite get there. “We’re from the NYPD and we’d like to ask you a few questions.”

There was no way they were with the NYPD. They hadn’t even shown their badges, which wasn’t the only thing giving them away, but Steve wasn’t about to point that out. That would go against all of his own military training and would probably cost him valuable information about what these guys actually wanted from him. As far as he could tell, though, both of the men were entirely human, which didn’t really make them any less dangerous.

“Sure, anything for the boys in blue,” Steve said with an easy grin, knowing he was far more convincing than they were. The second guy was snooping around the shop while the first one moved closer to the counter where Steve stood.

“We’ve had a report about a vampire attack in your shop yesterday,” the guy said seriously and Steve had a really bad feeling about this. “We were hoping you might know something to identify the vampire in question. Did you happen to catch his name? Or maybe he left something behind?”

If there really had been an attack, Steve would have stopped it because he was more than qualified to do so before calling the police. He wouldn’t hesitate to give them the card with all the pertinent information about a certain Bucky Barnes, PI. 

But given that there had been no attack to speak of, other than that part where he threatened Barnes with a wooden stake, Steve didn’t hesitate to lie. These guys weren’t even with the police, so at least he didn’t feel guilty about it. 

“No, he didn’t exactly stop to chat,” Steve lied, putting on a remorseful facade. “I managed to distract him long enough for all the customers to leave, but then he was gone. I barely even got a good look at him.”

The guy looked displeased, but said nothing, only turning towards his companion for a moment and receiving a disgruntled look in reply. Then he turned back to Steve looking innocent to the untrained eye, but Steve knew better. Not that Steve would have been fooled either way. 

“Did you see which direction he ran in? We’re talking about a very dangerous individual and every bit of information helps,” the guy said, and Steve realized they’d never introduced themselves, other than saying they were with the NYPD, nor showed their badges, which just served to further prove they weren’t actually cops. 

“Have you ever seen how fast a vampire can run?” Steve asked with a scoff before he could stop the sass. “Of course I didn’t see where he went.” He sincerely hoped they weren’t about to get suspicious of him.

They didn’t seem to suspect anything, from the looks of it, but Steve could see their displeasure and annoyance at the lack of information about the whole thing. Steve was getting increasingly interested though, both in the vampire from the day before and the guys snooping around now. He was itching to pay Barnes a visit and ask what the hell he did to bring these shady guys to his shop, but he’d had enough training to know that leaving immediately would raise suspicion and he would no doubt be followed. Leading these guys to Barnes’ doorstep would probably make this whole charade moot.

“Well, if you remember anything else or you see him again, we’d appreciate it if you gave us a call,” first guy said as he reached into his jacket pocket and took out a small card, almost exactly the same as the one Steve could almost feel burning a hole in his pocket. Steve took this one too, glancing down and noticing it had nothing to do with the actual police either. ‘Brock Rumlow’, it read. It was a name almost more ridiculous than Bucky Barnes. Less friendly too, if Steve was being honest.

“I’ll make sure to do that,” Steve lied yet again. He was on a roll in that regard and this really just proved he was a better liar than some people gave him credit for. “Good luck finding this guy before he attacks someone else.”

“We sure will,” the guy said with a grin far too vicious than it should have been. “Thank you for your help.” 

With that he turned and walked out, followed by his companion who hadn’t spoken a single word the entire time. Steve was rethinking his initial assessment of Barnes as creepy because these guys definitely had him beat by far. 

As soon as they were out the door, Steve approached the window and glanced out, immediately taking notice of the black SUV parked across the street. He had a good view of the two would be cops approaching it and climbing inside, but they did nothing to start the car and drive away even after several minutes. Steve didn’t need anything else to convince him that he’d be better off not visiting Barnes just yet. 

It was true he could have just called, but he doubted Barnes would give him anything over the phone or that he’d even want to talk to Steve after the incident. Steve found himself wondering whether the myth about vampires only being able to go out at night was true or not. He couldn’t say he had many dealings with vampires over the years, due to their lone nature, so he really had no idea which of the myths and stereotypes were actually true. 

Not even a moment later, Steve almost hit himself; of course the myth about only going out at night was fake considering the guy was in his shop in broad daylight. Maybe he was just really dedicated to his job, though. It was the middle of autumn, and the guy had had a baseball cap on and a coat that covered him pretty well, not to mention the leather gloves on his hands. He could safely conclude that going out in broad daylight was alright, as long as most of his skin was covered, and he’d maybe ask about the rest if he got a chance. Barnes probably wouldn’t appreciate it, but that never really stopped Steve before. 

Be that as it may, Steve was certain that waiting for nightfall was the best course of action. Even if the two guys keeping an eye on his shop planned on staying during the night too, Steve knew he could lose them easily before they could even try following him home. As for what he’d do after, well, he supposed he’d cross that bridge when he got to it.

He put the card he’d just gotten next to the one he’d gotten the day before, figuring it was best to keep it and show Barnes who was looking for him. If that was even the guy’s real name, though, because Brock Rumlow sounded like something straight out of a porn movie.

For the time being, Steve returned to the counter and the bird that was still disassembled on top of it, determined to at least fix the bird instead of nervously waiting for closing time while thinking about Barnes and just how much trouble he was in.

* * *

Waking up after a few short hours of sleep was infinitely easier when sleep wasn’t actually a necessity for a good life. Life being a term used very loosely in Bucky’s case, but still. He slept because otherwise a day would last too long and because he was somewhat tired of just being awake for so long without feeling, well, anything really. Sleeping was just easier. So he slept to have a clear break between one day and the next.

After the day he’d had, sleep was more than welcome. This was probably the first time he’d blown a case on the very first day and the professional in him was really pissed about it, even if it technically wasn’t his fault. Fucking elf. And after getting out of that bookshop intact, luckily, Bucky went straight home and called Mrs. Sitwell to inform her about the situation. 

She didn’t pick up, though, so he decided an e-mail would have to do, but he had yet to receive a reply to that as well even after a day and a half. Other than that, he’d barely done anything of worth since he returned to the office from the bookshop. There had been a few meetings and new clients, something that took up a bit more of his time now that Sam was away, but he’d gone to bed somewhere around midnight and hadn’t moved until late afternoon the next day. Not having to eat made lying in bed the whole day really easy. 

Not having Sam around to sass him into being a functional member of society just made him lazy, though. Bucky couldn’t remember the last time he’d been this lazy, but then again every time he’d woken up, he couldn’t stop being pissed at that elf. He didn’t even get a name to go with the dumb pointy ears. There was a really impressive amount of anger present whenever he remembered the guy and his stupid wooden stake. Who even still had wooden stakes in this day and age?

Bucky couldn’t help but wonder, though, what the hell an elf was doing in the city. No matter how many stereotypes were proven wrong through the decades, elves were still notoriously separate from everyone else. They kept to forests and mountains where the nature was still intact and too wild for anyone save for them and dryads to survive. The only times they left their forests was to fight. No one really knew how they picked sides, but the one they chose usually ended up winning the war. 

Well, at least that’s what they had done before, in the centuries when a war barely ended before another started and the fighting never seemed to end. The last time Bucky’d seen an elf was back in Europe during the war and there had only been two at the time. Hell, they were more rare than unicorns these days.

Of course it would be his luck to find one in the middle of New York. The grass inside the bookshop should have given him away immediately, but Bucky maintained that he was too focused on his job to notice anything else. It was a poor excuse and didn’t really make much sense considering his job was to notice everything, but he felt he could give himself some leeway in the privacy of his own mind. 

Taking everything he knew about elves into account, Bucky considered his curiosity completely natural. He couldn’t help it, solving mysteries was his job after all and he did enjoy it immensely, but it was usually a little less intriguing than this one single person. 

No matter how intrigued, though, Bucky was still pissed every time he remembered the elf and figured getting out of bed was a good idea if it would take his mind off of what happened. Despite it being late afternoon, he got up and headed straight for the kitchen to make some coffee. He didn’t really need it, but he still liked the taste and the habit of making it right after waking up. 

He turned on the TV on his way through the living room, switching to the news as he usually did before he started on the coffee. The voice from the TV droned in the background as Bucky tidied up the kitchen while he waited for the coffee to be done.

“-one fatality, Frank Furter, age 45, while the drunk driver that caused the accident lived with only minor injuries,” the woman on screen was saying, and Bucky felt bad for chuckling at the man’s name. He couldn’t help but be reminded of a German wiener and really, this made it more than clear to him that his sense of humor might have gotten skewed over the last few years. 

Then again, hearing the name made him look up and towards the TV without thinking and in no longer than a moment after chuckling, Bucky was staring at the image of a man that had died the night before after being hit by a drunk driver. It wasn’t really the news that struck him, though, but the picture they were showing of the victim. 

The victim that looked exactly like Jasper Sitwell. 

Bucky was suspicious of everything by default, it was a hazard of his profession and, honestly, his entire existence, but this time it went far beyond the usual level of questioning everything. He would have an easier time believing this was all a big coincidence, had it not been for the name. There was no denying that it was the same person he’d been following just the day before, but Bucky couldn’t tell which name was fake; the one he had gotten or the one on the news. That alone was enough to alarm him, but before he went completely paranoid, Bucky powered up his laptop. 

He was really hoping he had a reply from Mrs. Sitwell, though he figured there was reason to doubt everything about her as well. There was no helping the bad feeling Bucky suddenly had about everything and all he could think about was the fact that he’d considered her suspicious when she walked into his office. There were so many questions, Bucky didn’t know which one to ask first, but he couldn’t deny that the woman presenting herself as Mrs. Sitwell intrigued him the most at the moment. 

Impatiently, Bucky logged into his e-mail account, waiting for his inbox to load with trepidation; he had no idea what was going on, but he felt it was right to assume something bad was up if there was no reply to the e-mail he’d sent out the day before. If his heart had been beating at all, it would have stopped at the sight of an empty inbox. 

Well, not empty per se, but the one thing he wanted to see wasn’t there. Of course, Bucky had no idea what it meant. He still felt played, though. 

Enough so that he pulled up the old website about the history of the SSR, something he hadn’t visited in awhile, but he still remembered Peggy’s instructions. He clicked on the link leading to the page dedicated to the Howling Commandos and took a moment to grin at the picture of the entire squad. They were all there, save for him because he technically wasn’t part of the squad and his presence in the war wasn’t exactly known to the public, but Bucky could still remember taking the picture as if it happened yesterday. 

He wasn’t in the mood to reminisce, though, so he scrolled down until he found the login bar. For all intents and purposes, it looked like the login for administrators and moderators of the website which he most certainly wasn’t. That chapter of his life ended decades ago and the last thing Bucky needed was moderating a site dedicated to a war he wished he could forget. 

So he logged in for the first time in a long while and was taken to the old SSR database that was now linked to numerous government databases. Bucky didn’t even know how many and which ones they were and he honestly didn’t know nor did he care how Peggy managed to set it up. This was always a last resort for his cases, one he hadn’t used much, not that he usually investigated people who were bad enough to find themselves with a file in a federal database. Let alone all of them. 

He tabbed out, though, searching the news he’d seen and pulling up the article and obituary. Reading through it didn’t reveal anything out of the ordinary and basically just repeated what Bucky had overheard on the news; a drunk driver ran a red light and killed a pedestrian. 

Returning to the search page, Bucky typed in the name he’d heard on the news, Frank Furter, into the search bar and this time he managed to restrain himself from laughing at the sound of it. Laughing would be awfully childish of him and he figured he could at least be an adult about this. 

Only a moment later, the laptop pinged as the search finished, opening a file with the same picture he’d seen on the news. It wasn’t a criminal file, though, and held only the basic of information about Frank Furter who seemed to be an analyst for the company Bucky stared at for hours the day before while waiting for Sitwell to come out. The file listed him as a 45 year old single man with no children, a degree from NYU and a couple of parking tickets. 

There was absolutely nothing spectacular or mysterious about the man as far as Bucky could see. What he did notice, though, was the fact that half of the information about this man was exactly the same as what he’d gotten about Sitwell. That was suspicious all in itself, but Bucky couldn’t understand why he was given a different name for his investigation. It was hard to say which name was real, if either was at all. 

Opening the search in a new window, Bucky typed in the name he’d been given when he was hired. He wasn’t expecting much to come out of it, especially since this search took longer to finish than the previous one, but his suspicions were immediately raised when an angry sort of ping sounded as the search finished. The display wasn’t showing a file, like it had moments ago, but a simple white page with a big gray S.H.I.E.L.D. logo and the words ‘file locked’ typed under it. 

Bucky was left staring at the screen, hackles raised at the sight of the familiar logo. He knew S.H.I.E.L.D. was built on the foundations of the SSR and everything they’d done during the war. That should have probably eased some of his suspicions, due to the fact he was recruited by the SSR and worked for them during the war, but also because Peggy herself had a hand in forming everything S.H.I.E.L.D. was today. Instead of doing anything to calm him, though, this just made him all the more suspicious. 

That didn’t matter, though, because knowing S.H.I.E.L.D. was somehow involved in this just made Bucky want to step back and let this thing go. There wasn’t a force in this world that would make him want to get tangled in any shady business related to a government agency. His days of dealing with any organization more shady than the Fort Hamilton School Parent-Teacher Association in Brooklyn were long over. Those moms were a different kind of shady, but he could honestly say he’d take them and their grabby hands over dealing with spies and agents with generic names. 

He doubted that he’d ever been more done with something in his entire life than he was in this moment. In a matter of seconds, Bucky was logged off from the database and he erased his history, more out of habit than the fear someone might get a hold of his laptop. The coffee maker stopped gurgling just when he’d turned off the laptop and he got up from the desk where he’d been sitting, putting the search and the failed case behind him as he poured himself some coffee. 

There were other things he could focus on including, but not limited to whether Matt talked to Foggy and how that went down. He really hoped they worked it out, though he wasn’t sure if he had to get in touch with Foggy. His inbox held an e-mail from Foggy as far as Bucky had seen earlier, but he wasn’t too eager to check what it was about. A part of him was afraid things didn’t go well and Foggy blamed Bucky for it. He was sure he’d be hearing from Sam about it, if that really was the case. That was definitely not something Bucky was looking forward to and he really hoped it wouldn’t come to that. 

His thoughts were interrupted by the sound of the buzzer for the office ,and he let whoever was downstairs in, before grabbing his mug and taking the stairs down to the office. There was nothing professional about the way he looked, with the blue henley he’d slept in and the black sweats he put on just out of habit, but at least he wasn’t naked so he counted that as a win. He just made it to the front room where Sam’s desk stood when the door opened and Bucky almost dropped his mug. Almost, but not quite. His reflexes were better than that and so was his self control.

His imagination, however, wasn’t all that spectacular apparently because he hadn’t even thought the big blond elf from the bookshop from the day before would be standing in his office, looking sheepish, but determined. Bucky wasn’t sure he’d ever seen anyone looking both sheepish and determined at the same time, but he figured it would be fitting that an elf would pull it off. 

“No stake this time?” Bucky asked before the guy could say anything, even though he’d opened his mouth to speak. Honestly, Bucky just wanted the pleasure of interrupting him and he was awarded with an unimpressed glare that totally made everything worth it. 

“I can go get it if you’d like,” the guy said seriously, his eyes narrowed. 

“I’m sure you have something hard on you that you could stab me with,” Bucky said flippantly without really thinking about it before taking a sip of his coffee. 

“I- what?” the elf asked, voice sounding awfully hoarse. The words caught up with Bucky, and he’s sure he might have blushed just a tiny bit, had that been physically possible, but the look on the guy’s face suggested Bucky should probably be more flattered than embarrassed. Interesting.

“What’s your name, anyway?” Bucky asked, changing the subject before he turned and started for his office. “And what do you want?” he added as an afterthought, glancing over his shoulder as he walked.

“Steve,” the guy said, sounding slightly confused, but at least he was following. “And I came to apologize for yesterday, but you’re still kind of a dick so I’m not sure I’m actually sorry.”

“Kind of a dick is better than being a full dick,” Bucky said as he took a seat behind his desk, offering Steve the chair opposite him. Steve completely ignored it tho.

“You’re toeing the line now,” he said, looking amused, but just barely. “I am sorry, though, for blowing your cover. I made an assumption that was completely wrong and that interfered with your job.”

“Apology accepted,” Bucky said with a smile before sipping at his coffee again. He couldn’t help but notice that Steve didn’t look like he was about to leave, though. Raising an eyebrow seemed to be enough to prompt him to talk, though.

“I’m also here because I was paid a visit,” Steve said, reaching into the pocket of his nice leather jacket as he stepped closer to the desk. “By two guys pretending to be cops, pretty poorly by the way, were asking about you.” 

 

                                                        

He slid a small business card across the desk until it was within Bucky’s reach. Bucky, however, wasn’t looking at the card; his eyes were trained on Steve’s face and the hardness he found there, under the thin layer of amusement. There was no masking a military man, now that Bucky got a better look at him and that just intrigued him even more. Probably more than the two fake cops did because Bucky could tell they were related to Sitwell’s death in one way or another.

Steve was looking right back at him without saying a word and for a moment, Bucky wondered what exactly he saw. Then he nodded, mostly to himself, before he leaned forward and took a look at the card even if he knew he wasn’t planning on looking it up. He’d already decided not to get in the middle of whatever the hell this was and having two thugs pretending to be cops while looking for him was a sign of nothing good. All the more reason for him not to get involved.

“Brock Rimlow?” he read aloud. “Sounds like a pornstar.”

Steve snorted pretty loudly, making Bucky look up at him, barely containing a smile.

“I’m pretty sure it says Rumlow,” Steve said, now obviously amused. It was surprisingly easy to read him, probably because he didn’t bother hiding what he felt most of the time, and it just made responding in kind all the more natural for Bucky. Steve reminded him of Sam a little, mostly because both of them annoyed the hell out of him on a good day. He may not have known Steve for more than a day, but the fact he was actually ready to attack a vampire to save a random stranger spoke volumes of his personality.

“How is that any better?” Bucky asked.

“No idea,” Steve replied with a shrug. “But I didn’t come here to talk about porn names.”

“You came to apologize, which you did so you can go now. Bye.”

“You’re being a dick again,” Steve told him bluntly.

“I never stopped being one.”

“I have no trouble believing that,” Steve said. He looked awfully judgemental to Bucky. “Stop trying to distract me,” he added quickly as soon as Bucky opened his mouth to speak.

“I’m not sure what you want from me.” Bucky sighed, fairly certain he knew what Steve wanted.

“There’s someone looking for you and it doesn’t look like they’re the type of people to give up before they find you,” Steve said, but Bucky couldn’t quite figure out what it was that showed on his face.

“I’m still not sure what you want from me.”

“We need to figure out who they are and what they want,” Steve said incredulously, as if it was obvious what he was thinking. Well, it kind of was, but Bucky already decided he was having no part of the whole thing and he wasn’t about to let Steve get in the middle of it either.

“ _We_ don’t have to do anything,” Bucky said, finally setting his mug down on the desk and leaning forward in a manner that was supposed to look intimidating. Well, he knew it looked intimidating with regular people, but Steve didn’t look very frightened. “You said it yourself, they were looking for me so this is my problem to deal with.”

“But-” Steve started, but Bucky cut him off immediately.

“No buts,” he said. “Thank you for letting me know about the guys looking for me, I appreciate it.”

Steve didn’t look like he appreciated what he was hearing and his dedication to help out was flattering, but even if Bucky was about to do something to track down these fake cops, he knew better than to drag a civilian into it.

“You’re planning on doing nothing, aren’t you?” Steve crossed his arms before his chest as he straightened, looking down on Bucky and he had to admit _that_ looked intimidating like hell. Maybe a bit hot too, but that was neither here nor there at the moment.

“It’s none of your business anymore, is it?” Bucky questioned. “You did your civic duty and let me know and now it’s up to me to deal with it as I see fit.”

Steve narrowed his eyes, his gaze assessing and Bucky did his best not to look away. So maybe the way Steve looked was more than ‘a bit hot’, but it wasn’t the time to think like that.

“So I’m just supposed to leave and let you do nothing about it?”

“Yes, that is exactly what you’re supposed to do,” Bucky told him. “If you think you can manage it.”

He got a glare in reply, one that would probably make lesser men crumble, but he stood his ground and stared back at Steve without uttering a word. It looked like Steve was ready to fight him more on this even though Bucky had no idea why he’d be this invested in the life of a complete stranger.

“Fine,” Steve said at last. “Good luck.”

With a last glance at Bucky, he was through the door and out of the office all the while Bucky stood there gaping. He hadn’t expected Steve to give in so suddenly and it almost gave him whiplash from how fast he changed his mind. As per usual, though, Bucky was immediately suspicious and overcome with the awful feeling that this wasn’t the last time he’d be seeing Steve. Whether he was happy about it or not, Bucky couldn’t say just yet.

“Sounds like you’ll be needing a lawyer soon.”

The voice came unexpectedly, but Bucky didn’t startle. He wasn’t surprised that Matt could sneak up on him, it was impressive really, but his voice and presence were familiar to Bucky once he chose to reveal himself. Bucky didn’t have to turn and look at Matt to know he was there.

“Why would I need a lawyer?” Bucky asked, still facing the door. He assumed Matt was sitting on the same window Bucky used to leave the office. “I’m not gonna get arrested.”

“Am I gonna be fishing you out of a dumpster then?” Matt asked, the words serious, but his tone revealing amusement. Bucky recognized it so easily because Matt had a unique way of showing his humor.

“I hope not, you of all people should know how disgusting those are,” Bucky said with a grin of his own. “To what do I owe the pleasure of this visit?” he asked as he turned around to face Matt who was dressed in all black, looking more like a vigilante than a lawyer with the mask covering the upper part of his face.

“I told Foggy,” Matt said, a small sad smile on his lips. “He wasn’t too happy about most of it, but he doesn’t hate me.”

“He cares about you,” Bucky pointed out.

“He does.” Matt smile was a little less sad as he said it. “So I see you’ve made a new friend,” he said a moment later with that amused smirk of his. It made him look so young and innocent.

“That’s a bit of an overstatement,” Bucky said with a snort. “He tried to stab me yesterday.”

“A lot of people have that tendency when they first meet you,” Matt told him. “You shouldn’t hold it against him.”

“Maybe I should think of him as a friend considering my friends all wanna kill me, apparently,” Bucky said, enjoying the laugh he got in reply.

“You know I’ll help if you need me to,” Matt said after a short pause.

“I know,” Bucky nodded. “I hope I won’t need it, though.”

“Are you going to tell me what kind of trouble you’re in?” Matt asked, though Bucky had a feeling he wasn’t exactly expecting an answer.

“I’m not in trouble as far as I know,” Bucky told him and completely meant it. “Are you off to be a hero now?” he asked, hoping to change the subject.

“I thought I was a devil,” Matt replied.

“That’s not an answer to my question, though.”

“Because you already know the answer,” Matt told him with a smile before giving him a wave and jumping out the window and into the alley. Bucky didn’t even bother looking down, knowing Matt would disappear in a flash.

He was left alone then, to deal with his thoughts and the fact that he somehow knew a lot of people fond of a dramatic exit.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Comments are much appreciated ^^


	3. Chapter 3

It was surprisingly easy to let Steve and Sitwell and the whole whatever the hell it was slip his mind in the days after Steve had come to visit him. There were new clients coming by to hire him and old ones picking up the files and photographs Bucky owed them. He was busier than he remembered ever being or rather, busier than he’d been ever since Sam started working with him. 

This much contact with others was wearing him down already, reminding him why he’d hired Sam in the first place. Bucky found himself with a newfound appreciation for Sam and everything he did to help out. As is, Bucky was ready to take a break and finally go out and do some detective work. It felt like he hadn’t followed anyone in ages and he was starting to miss it. He couldn’t wait for Sam to come back, he just had to get through the rest of the day and then he’d be back.

Of course the moment he’d think that would be the exact moment someone came to his door. As a rule, the office was open to clients pretty much all day, no matter what time, because either Bucky or Sam were always there. Everyone mostly came by during the day, though, when Sam was there, leaving Bucky free to do his snooping during the night. 

He’d heard someone come to the front door before the buzzer sounded and so he was sitting on top of Sam’s desk, ready to let whoever it was in. This wasn’t the first time he was annoyed at himself for renting out the ground floor instead of using it for his office; he wouldn’t have had to buzz people in to get up to the first floor of the building where his office was. Besides, he was sure he’d probably be more at ease if he was the only person in the building given that the only other floor, besides the ground floor shop and his office on the first floor was the apartment he lived in on the second floor. It was home for a really long time and he’s not sure anymore how he came to decide that renting out a part of it was a good idea.

His thoughts were interrupted by a bark outside the door before it opened and a sandy haired dog trotted in. Bucky was so focused on the dog that he didn’t bother looking up at the man following it immediately. 

“Heeeey, you’re the sniper guy! Glad to see you survived the war, man,” the guy said, and Bucky snapped his gaze up, meeting the gaze of another blond elf before he was flooded with recognition. 

“You pushed me out of a fuckin’ tree,” Bucky said with narrow eyes and an age old grudge rising in him. “Who does that, man? Stealing someone’s nest. Could’ve died from a fall like that.” 

“Aren’t you already dead?” the guy asked, his head cocked to the side. Meanwhile, his dog ambled up to Bucky’s side, resting his chin on Bucky’s thigh. 

“That doesn’t make the violence okay,” Bucky grumbled. He never thought he’d see this guy ever again and he’d be lying if he said this guy wasn’t the reason for his suspicion towards elves. Mostly because he hadn’t actually met one before this one pushed him out of a tree during the war and stole his sniper’s nest.

“Sorry,” the guy said, but didn’t really sound sorry. “So you’re the shady vamp, huh?” he continued, confusing Bucky even more. Even though the description sounded awfully familiar. After all, there were only so many times he was called shady recently and considering the guy in front of him was an elf, it wasn’t that hard to figure out where it came from.

“I’m as shady as anyone else in this city,” Bucky replied, mentally debating whether he should cross his arms to try and keep up the scary facade or if he should pet the dog that was still giving him a serious case of puppy eyes. “Is this like an elf dog or something?” Bucky asked, gaze trained on the soft looking dog. It was definitely a valid question, though, even if it sounded stupid because animals generally went crazy around him. Something to do with him technically being dead or whatever, but this dog just looked like it wanted to be touched. It had to be magic.

“Dude, he’s just a golden retriever,” the elf scoffed, walking further into the room and glancing around. “I’m Clint, by the way, and that’s Lucky.”

Bucky took the hand he was offered and shook it.

“I’m Bucky,” he said as he let go. “What can I help you with? I have a feeling you’re not here because you need a private investigator.”

“And your feeling is completely right,” Clint told him cheerfully. This might have been, in part, due to the fact that Bucky had given in and started scratching Lucky’s head, getting a completely blissed out look in reply. “Steve asked me to come here,” Clint said, and Bucky had an awful feeling there was something he missed about Steve that he should probably know and he hated that.

“I told him to give it a rest,” Bucky said with a resigned sigh. “This is my problem, if there even is one, and I’ll handle it.”

“First off, Steve will never let anything go ever so you’re shit out of luck,” Clint started, “and second, he told me to tell you that it’s his problem too because he’s still being followed.”

“By whom?” Bucky asked, though he was sure he knew the answer. 

“I think he said something about a porn guy, but I’m pretty sure that was just my hearing aid malfunctioning,” Clint said, looking slightly at a loss, fingers absentmindedly reaching for the ornate hearing aid hooked to his pointy ear. It reminded Bucky of the mechanical birds he’d seen in Steve’s bookshop.

“Nah, you heard right,” he said, getting a lot of amusement from the confused look on Clint’s face. 

“Why is Steve being followed by a porn guy?” he asked, though it didn’t sound like the words were directed at Bucky. “I was gone for a week, what the hell happened? Who am I kidding, Steve’s found weirder trouble before,” Clint mumbled to himself, amusing Bucky further. This also revealed a side to Steve that Bucky hadn’t really seen, though he supposed it wasn’t that hard to believe given the way they’d met. 

“Maybe Steve’s making porn,” Bucky suggested, holding back the laughter threatening to burst out of him at the sight of Clint’s alarmed face. “He is hot enough, I think.” He hadn’t meant to blurt that out and somehow he knew it would come back to bite him in the ass at one point, but it was too late to take it back.

Clint gave him a long assessing look, but said nothing, and honestly, Bucky was slightly uncomfortable under his gaze. Then he shrugged, as if he didn’t stare Bucky down only a moment ago. 

“Fair enough,” Clint said. 

Bucky wasn’t sure what to think of that, though he also had a hard time figuring out how the conversation ended up at this point anyway. Well, he did know, but he didn’t have an easy time admitting he’d have to do something about the whole thing if Steve was still being followed days after the incident. Bucky may not have been interested in dealing with whatever the hell was going on, but the alternative of getting Steve in trouble wasn’t one he wanted to entertain. 

He just hated that this decision seemed to have been made against his will. 

The dog pressed his snout against Bucky’s thigh, making him snap out of his thoughts and worries. Somewhat distractedly, Bucky thought he should get himself a dog too. As far as ideas went, this wasn't the worst one he's ever had.

"So, why is it your business if Steve's being followed?" Clint asked, drawing Bucky's attention to him once again. He'd moved from the door and seemed to be snooping around the office, speaking without looking at Bucky at all.

"The guys that are following him were looking for me," Bucky told him. "Didn't Steve tell you that?" He was getting suspicious again. More than his default level of suspiciousness, that is.

"I guess he forgot to mention it." Definitely fishy.

"How do you know Steve again?" Bucky asked with narrowed eyes.

"We grew up together, left the mountains together, served together," Clint listed. "You know, as you do with a platonic life partner."

“Platonic life partner?” Bucky questioned and probably rightfully so. “Is that an elf thing?”

“Dude, not everything’s an elf thing,” Clint said with an affronted look on his face, finally turning to look at Bucky. 

"Not like I'd know," Bucky shrugged. “Is throwing people out of trees an elf thing?”

“You just won’t let that go, will you?” Clint asked, looking amused and in no way sorry for that. “But no, not an elf thing. That one’s more of a me thing.”

“So you’re just an ass?” 

“Well, you’re not wrong,” a third voice piped up and only Bucky’s superior skill of being dead kept him from startling. Clint didn’t look phased either, though his eyes were a tiny bit wider than before. Steve just looked suspiciously at the two of them, perched impressively on the tiny windowsill of Bucky’s office window. For a moment, Bucky figured he should probably start closing that window.

“Steve, buddy, pal,” Clint started, sounding awfully nervous. “Hi.”

“What are you doing here, Clint?” Steve asked seriously.

“Just walking the dog,” Clint replied readily, pointing at Lucky who just didn’t seem to care either way. Bucky did care, though, because it was becoming increasingly obvious that Steve hadn’t, in fact, asked Clint to come over. Bucky really wished people would stop being suspicious around him.

Steve seemed to share the sentiment, saying nothing, but staring at Clint with narrow eyes and a grim set to the line of his lips. That in itself made Clint fidget a little, prompting Lucky into standing up and walking to him until he could press his nose into the palm of Clint’s hand. 

"Seriously," Clint said while Bucky watched with interest, gaze shifting from one to the other. His head was moving from side to side as if he was watching a tennis match, except this was far more entertaining.

"And you just happened to come here? All by yourself? Accidentally?" Bucky never heard anyone sound this accusing in his entire life. Even Sam never managed it quite like this and he had serious skills when it came to sassing Bucky.

“I can neither confirm nor deny that I saw a business card at the shop after you told me about the stake incident,” Clint said stoically, revealing nothing except that he’d really revealed everything. Bucky might have been worried about him had it not been obvious that he and Steve were indeed friends.

Steve, though, just continued staring with that serious expression of his, and Bucky was maybe starting to worry a bit about his own ass. 

"I think I'm just gonna go now," Clint said. "My work here is done anyway."

"What work would that be?" Steve asked.

"Walking the dog, of course," Clint replied instantly. "Nice seeing you again, sniper guy," he said in Bucky's direction before he whistled at Lucky and the two of them started for the door. At least someone was using it.

"Don't get into any more trouble, will you?" Clint added, glancing at Steve over his shoulder with a pointed look that eased the seriousness from Steve's face before Clint was out the door and, soon after, out of the building.

"You two know each other?" Steve asked once they were alone and he finally moved into the room rather than sitting on the windowsill. 

“I could ask you the same thing,” Bucky said, maybe a bit more stubborn than he ought to have sounded, but he couldn’t help but still be a bit annoyed at Steve. From the look on his face, Steve seemed to feel the same. 

“We grew up together,” Steve said in the end, face revealing a hint of softness. It wasn’t much in the way of an answer, but it was something, and Bucky figured he owed an answer as well.

“I don’t really know him, he just pushed me out of a tree during the war,” Bucky said, having come to terms with another sniper besting him years ago.

“Which war?” 

“How many wars have you two been in?” Bucky asked, his eyebrow raised. 

“Too many,” was all Steve said. The haunted look on his face suggested it wasn’t a topic of conversation to be pursued. In an attempt to wipe the look off Steve’s face, Bucky answered without being prompted again.

“Second World War,” Bucky said. “It was somewhere in Austria, I think. We didn’t really have time to talk.”

“How come I never met you over there?” Steve asked looking genuinely curious.

"How come I never met  _ you _ over there?" Bucky countered.

"Are you just gonna reply to all my questions with more questions?" Steve asked with a sigh.

"What if I am?" Bucky asked and he knew he was kind of pushing it now.

"You're a child," Steve told him, rolling his eyes in a way that almost looked painful.

"You never met me there because I technically  _ wasn't _ there," Bucky said with a shrug. "I mostly worked with the Howling Commandos." Officially, this information was still confidential, but Bucky doubted Steve was about to tell anyone who might care about that.

Steve was looking at him a bit oddly, though, as if trying to put something together in his head.

"Who recruited you? If you weren't supposed to be there," he said after a short pause, the curious frown still on his face.

"Agent Peggy Carter of the SSR," Bucky said slowly, his eyes narrowing in suspicion as to where this conversation was going. To his surprise, though, Steve's face lit up, and he grinned broadly.

"You know Peggy?" 

“Yeah,” Bucky said, letting himself grin at the mention of her. He had no problem admitting that he missed her sometimes. Howard too, if he was feeling especially sentimental. “Only she and Stark knew about me, outside of the Commandos.”

Steve snorted at that. “Howard managed to keep a secret? Color me surprised,” he said and his words may have sounded somewhat harsh, but he wore the same expression as when he spoke of Clint earlier. Bucky could understand that; Howard could really grow on a person after a while. 

“You knew them both?” Bucky asked, something nagging at the back of his mind. 

“Howard made most of my gear and the suit, of course,” Steve said with a nod, thought there was a hint of a blush on his face. 

“Stark made you stuff willingly?” Bucky snorted before the words Steve said caught up with him. “Wait, what do you mean suit?”

“Uh,” Steve said, slightly floundering as the color in his cheeks deepened a little. 

“Oh my god, you were the star-spangled elf,” Bucky said, eyes wide with realization. He might have doubted it for a moment if it weren’t for the embarrassment on Steve’s face. “Man, did I hear things about you,” he added just to see the embarrassed glare Steve aimed his way.  

"Can’t we just talk about why I'm here?" Steve asked, voice strangled, but determined to put an end to this.

“No, because I probably won’t like that,” Bucky said, more cheerfully than he wanted to sound. “As opposed to that suit you wore. I saw one of the suits in Stark’s workshop, you know. Do you still have those tights? I don’t think that mannequin did them justice.”

Steve sounded like he was choking, and Bucky felt a little mean, but still, Steve tried to stab him so it was only fair. He couldn’t use that as a reason forever, though, so Bucky took some pity on Steve and changed the subject before Steve could speak.

“So, porn guy is still following you?” Bucky asked then realized it didn’t sound that much better than the teasing he was just trying to stop. Steve didn’t seem to notice, though, too relieved about the subject being changed. 

“I’m pretty sure it’s not always him, but they all definitely work for the same people,” Steve said, the switch from embarrassed to scary focused painfully obvious. “I haven’t figured out who those people are, though.”

“Don’t tell me you were trying to investigate them,” Bucky said. Steve might not have been a civilian like Bucky had thought, but that didn’t mean he should be involved. 

“I talked to some of my old contacts in the NYPD after you told me to let it go-”

“Which is the exact opposite of letting it go,” Bucky interrupted. 

“Shut up,” Steve said with a roll of his eyes. “Anyway, they just confirmed that those two have nothing to do with the police. And there was nothing on a Brock Rumlow in their criminal database.”

“You said there were two guys, though,” Bucky said, knowing he didn’t really pay as much attention to this the last time given that he was planning on doing absolutely nothing. The less he knew, the better if he wasn’t going to deal with it. His opinion hadn’t changed, but he didn’t seem to have a choice in the matter. 

“The other one didn’t introduce himself when they came by the shop,” Steve started, “so I only had his description to go on, which wasn’t much.”

“So basically, you made absolutely no progress?” Bucky asked. He was kind of glad about that, too. He continued before Steve could say whatever it is he was going to say. “That is perfect because you’re not going to be a part of this anyway.”

“What?” Steve asked incredulously. 

“You warned me and now I can deal with this without implicating you too,” Bucky reasoned. “Everybody wins.”

“You said you wouldn’t do anything about it,” Steve accused him with a glare.

“That is a way of dealing with it.”

Bucky found himself on the receiving end of a glare mean enough that it could almost kill a man more times than he could count, but this one was by far the most impressive, Bucky would give him that. It still wasn’t enough to sway him, though. 

“I want to hire you to investigate this,” Steve blurted out, obviously momentarily surprising himself as well, if the stunned pause he took was anything to go by. “Yeah, I wanna hire you. Investigate this,” he added, looking extremely proud of himself as he sat down in the chair in front of Sam’s desk and crossed his arms. Bucky had the inexplicable urge to wipe the self satisfied smirk off his face, he just wasn’t sure how he wanted to do it.

“No.” Bucky crossed his arms as well, glaring down at Steve. He doubted it had an effect on Steve, but that didn’t stop him from trying. 

“What do you mean ‘no’?” Steve asked, sounding more exasperated than annoyed. He didn’t sound quite convinced that Bucky was refusing. “I’m obviously qualified to help you and not be a nuisance. Not to mention how this is turning into an actual problem, mostly for me because I’m the one being followed. I think I have more of a say in this than you.”

Bucky had to admit that Steve was right; the fact that he was a war hero kind of changed the way Bucky thought of him. Steve wasn’t a civilian after all and he had more than enough experience and training to take care of himself and to have Bucky’s back as well, if the need for that arose. It was becoming increasingly obvious that Bucky would, in fact, have to deal with this instead of ignoring it until it went away. That sounded like it would suck for him, eventually.

“You’re not gonna hire me,” Bucky said, and Steve immediately opened his mouth to protest, like Bucky expected him to. He lifted his hand, signaling Steve to stay quiet before basking in the pleasant surprise when Steve actually obeyed. “But you can look into this with me, if I really have to.”

“Of course you have to!” Steve burst out. “There are people looking for you and they’re not really the kind to just give up if they don’t find you.”

“Steve, there’s not much they can do to me,” Bucky said, going for calming, but his words were delivered with a hint of a smirk. “I’m dead, remember?”

“You can still be hurt, though, can’t you?” Steve asked, though it didn’t really sound like a question. Not that Bucky would reply, anyway, with his instincts screaming at him to not reveal a possible weakness.

They both let the subject die out by saying nothing, though Bucky couldn’t bring himself to look away from Steve’s eyes. There was something there, but Bucky couldn’t recognize what it was, that had him wondering about Steve, not for the first time. 

It was slightly impressive, the way Steve could hold his own under the weight of Bucky’s gaze, but not really surprising; he’d revealed himself to be a much stronger man than the people Bucky usually stared down and intimidated. He wasn’t sure if he liked this.

“I guess I should show you what I found so far, if we’re gonna work on this together,” Bucky broke the silence and the staring contest before he hopped off of Sam’s desk and started for the stairs.

“Wait, you have something?” Steve said and, even though he hadn’t turned around, Bucky could almost see him leaping out of the chair to follow. “You should have started with that!”

“Don’t make me change my mind,” was all Bucky said.

“You wouldn’t,” Steve replied, though he didn’t sound as sure as his words might have suggested. 

Bucky glanced over his shoulder and raised an eyebrow in reply, getting the desired effect of Steve glaring at him, but saying nothing more. That drew a smirk from Bucky, something Steve didn’t seem to appreciate even a little, but he still said nothing so Bucky led the way towards the dining room table where he’d left his laptop. 

“I’m not completely sure how this is related to the guys following you, but it seems like too big of a coincidence for it not to be,” Bucky said as he turned the laptop on and took a seat at the dining table, Steve pulling up a chair next to him where he could look at the screen as well. He’d lost his leather jacket somewhere along the way, looking far more comfortable and at home in his blue sweater and the sight made Bucky realize that they’d probably be spending a whole lot of time together from this point.

Steve nodded when Bucky didn’t talk further, aiming an intense look Bucky’s way as he waited for Bucky to continue. Once the laptop was on and Bucky pulled up the article about Sitwell’s death and the obituary from the papers, he spoke.

“This is the guy I was following in your bookshop,” he said. “His wife hired me to find out if he was cheating and that was the first day I’d been following him. Apparently, he died in an accident later that same day.”

“Why do you think it’s related?”

“Well, the name on the obituary isn’t the same as the name his wife gave me,” Bucky said. “I’m not even sure she is his wife, actually. But I ran both names though-” he stopped himself before he blurted something out. Steve just raised an eyebrow, but didn’t say anything.

“A database. Yeah, I ran it through a database and the name from the news was clean, but the one his wife gave me had a file blocked by S.H.I.E.L.D.,” Bucky said, “which is reason enough to make me suspicious.” From the look on Steve’s face, he seemed to share that sentiment. 

“That doesn’t explain why you’d think the woman who hired you isn’t his real wife, though,” Steve said, doing nothing to mention S.H.I.E.L.D. or the government. 

“She was a siren,” Bucky started, but Steve interrupted immediately. 

“Bucky, you can’t think the worst about someone just because she’s a siren!” He sounded absolutely outraged, and Bucky found himself endeared at the fierce defense of this woman just because it sounded like Bucky was discriminating against someone who was historically considered a being of evil.

“First of all, no I was not making assumptions just based on what she is,” Bucky started, staring Steve down with narrow eyes. “Second, you may have noticed I’m a vampire, which means I am well aware of the damage stereotypes can do.”

Steve seemed to think about it for a moment, and Bucky was certain there was an apology coming his way.

“Wait, what did she look like?” Steve asked, looking determined again. 

Well, Bucky supposed he was wrong.

“Average height, bright red hair, green eyes, really pale,” Bucky described. “Introduced herself as Natasha Sitwell.”

“Of course she did,” Steve said, the expression on his face torn somewhere between angry and just so done with everything. Instead of elaborating, though, Steve stood up and pulled his phone out, dialing a number as he turned his back to Bucky. 

Steve started pacing immediately, with the phone to his ear. His footsteps were completely silent despite the heavy looking boots he was wearing. His hand, the one not holding onto the phone, was clenched into a fist and it was the only sign of anything even remotely similar to distress about him. 

A moment later, he straightened completely, and Bucky could see the way his jaw clenched.

“Natasha Sitwell?” he asked into the phone, voice hard. 

“Doesn’t matter how I know,” he said after a moment. Bucky did his best not to listen in on the person on the other line, instead focusing on Steve, his movements and the words he said.

“What were you thinking, bringing a civilian into whatever mess this is?” he asked, though it didn’t sound much like an actual question to Bucky. He couldn’t help but notice that Steve asked a lot of questions that didn’t really sound like it.

From the looks of it, Steve wasn’t too thrilled about what was being said to him. It didn’t take a genius, though, to figure out who he was talking to. It was a bit more difficult to figure out how exactly he knew her.

“I don’t care who he was in the war, he’s a civilian now!” Steve argued. His fist unclenched and he raised his hand, rubbing his fingers along his forehead. “You should know better than this, Natasha, I’m being followed by people who are looking for him,” he said, voice more calm and subdued than it had been, but that somehow just made him sound more dangerous.

“Doesn’t matter how they found me. A guy named Brock Rumlow was the only one that introduced himself,” Steve said, the question he was answering more than obvious. “You know him?”

He listened intently for a while. “Sounds like a great guy,” he mumbled. 

“Never mind him now. What was your mission?” Steve asked a moment later, still eerily calm. Bucky had to admit this was a pretty interesting side of Steve that he was allowed to see. He couldn’t remember the last time he’d met someone he could consider an equal in this many regards. And he was pretty hot. Increasingly so, at the moment. 

Embarrassingly so, Bucky hadn’t even noticed he was staring at Steve for what was probably a moment too long. Not that Steve was aware of it either, too focused on the phone to pay attention. Bucky snapped out of it, though, turning back to his laptop with the idea of hacking into the S.H.I.E.L.D. database to try and find out more about Jasper Sitwell and why the hell he was important. Or, well, why he was dead.

“What,” Steve practically growled, low and dangerous, immediately getting Bucky’s full and undivided attention. 

Bucky hadn’t known Steve for that long, or pretty much at all, but he could tell this level of anger didn’t rear it’s head very often. It was a frightening sight, he had no problem admitting that, and he honestly hoped he’d never find himself on the receiving end of it.

Steve was rubbing his hand over his face again, but this time his hand was shaking, and Bucky immediately took it as a really bad sign. That was the exact opposite of what they needed right now, Bucky could tell even without knowing what exactly it was that Steve was hearing. 

“Who else is in on this?” Steve asked in that same low tone that, Bucky was not gonna lie, did things to him. That was just an afterthought at the moment, though, because something bad was obviously happening, and Bucky had to focus on that.

“Alright, text me the secure login info,” Steve said, a certain finality to the word. “Call me if you get something new.”

Whatever the other person said, it was short, and Steve was speaking again.

“And Nat?” he started. “Be careful.”

With that the conversation ended and Steve hung up, letting his hand drop down to his side. He didn’t move for a moment, just stood with his back to Bucky and his shoulders slumped, head bowed in a way that looked very defeated to Bucky. 

“You know who Hydra is, right?” Steve asked, his voice almost a whisper, but Bucky heard him just fine. 

“Don’t you mean  _ was _ ?” Bucky asked, focusing on that instead of the actual question because that made several warning bells go off inside his head. 

“Apparently not,” Steve said with a sigh as he finally turned back to Bucky who was beyond alarmed. “According to my S.H.I.E.L.D. source,” Steve started with a sardonic twist to his lips, as if Bucky hadn’t figured out just who the source was, “Hydra is still operating, under new management. They suspect S.H.I.E.L.D. is compromised.”

There were no words to describe the dread rising in Bucky’s chest and the cold settling there. The memories of the war and being captured by Hydra made their way to the forefront of his mind immediately after. It hadn’t been a long captivity, unlike that of so many other soldiers, and he let himself get caught to infiltrate their base so he was in a better position from the start. Nonetheless, the experience wasn’t one he’d want to relive ever again. The things Hydra scientists had done were beyond cruel and, as far as Bucky knew, completely pointless. Though, then again, a lot of things Hydra did were pointless.

“Shit.” 

Bucky really had nothing else to say to that. The main question was still how this all related to Bucky and, subsequently, to Steve, but he had a hard time thinking about that with all the new information he just heard.

“Natasha hired you to follow Sitwell because he was suspected of being a part Hydra,” Steve said as he sat back down next to Bucky, “but because he was also a part of S.H.I.E.L.D., they needed someone not affiliated with them to tail him.” Steve smirked then, before continuing. “Apparently, your service file can only be accessed by Peggy. She recommended you to Natasha and Fury for this.”

“Did you work for them?” Bucky asked. “After the war, I mean.”

It wasn’t the time for curiosity, and Bucky knew it, but he couldn’t help it. Steve started intriguing him more than just a little and the unwillingness to not get involved in this mess just made him want to focus on anything else instead, with Steve being the nearest mystery. 

“Undercover work wasn’t really for me,” Steve replied, a smirk on his lips, and Bucky was proud for a moment for distracting him. “The suit would probably give me away.”

“Is that why you’re not in on whatever it is Mrs. Sitwell is up to?” Bucky asked with a raised eyebrow. He didn’t mean to sound as accusing as he did, but it was too late to take it back. Steve showed no signs of being mad, though.

“I’m never in on anything she does so it’s not surprising,” Steve said. “It’s too confidential to tell even Clint, I think.”

“What does Clint have to do with it?”

“Oh, they’re married,” Steve replied flippantly. His phone buzzed before he could say anything else, and Steve immediately reached for it. Bucky assumed it was Natasha, texting whatever it was Steve was expecting, that would hopefully help them figure this thing out. 

The confusion on Steve’s face as he read the text was highly amusing, to Bucky at least, but Steve didn’t seem to appreciate that. 

“Give me that,” Bucky said, reaching for the phone in Steve’s hand and taking it once Steve’s grip loosened. “You don’t look like you know what to do with it.”

Steve didn’t exactly deny it, just shrugged and turned his attention to Bucky and his laptop as Bucky read the instructions on Steve’s phone. Surprisingly, what he was reading seemed to be the instructions to open the same database Bucky had been using to find Sitwell, but through the closed S.H.I.E.L.D. servers. 

“So they think Hydra infiltrated S.H.I.E.L.D., but they’re not sure how many people are working both sides?” Bucky asked as he typed on the laptop, following the instructions Natasha had sent carefully. 

“According to Natasha, only director Fury, his second in command and Nat herself are verified as not Hydra,” Steve said seriously. “She went to you because Sitwell knows both her and Maria, and no one else could be trusted. I guess me blowing your cover did a lot more damage than we thought.”

“Sitwell did get a really good look at me, yeah,” Bucky replied, “but he was definitely meeting someone in your shop. I didn’t get a good look at whoever it was, you kinda distracted me.”

“Sorry about that,” Steve mumbled. “Again.”

“It’s fine,” Bucky told him as he turned to look at Steve, to convey that it actually was fine. “Nothing we can do to change it anymore.” Then he went back to the criminally complicated process of entering the S.H.I.E.L.D. database. It was more complicated than what Peggy had given him.

“Does Peggy know?” Bucky asked as soon as his thoughts wandered to her, hoping that they could handle this before Peggy had to find out what happened to her legacy. 

“Not yet,” Steve said, looking relieved with the fact.

“And what did your source have to say about our pornstar?” 

Steve snorted, shaking his head. “He sounds interesting from the little she said. We need to look him up too, but he’s suspected of being Hydra too.”

“You think he is?” Bucky asked even though Steve didn’t actually know the guy, but he was pretty sure Steve was good at reading people. Maybe not vampires, as witnessed from the way they’d met, but he had to have had some skills based on his training and long service.

“He was definitely suspicious,” Steve said pensively. “More so than even spies are.”

“Having prejudice against spies is not cool, Steven,” Bucky muttered, smiling slowly as Steve sputtered. “I’m in,” Bucky said as soon as he entered the database and before Steve could say anything about Bucky’s quip. “Who do we search first?”

“Try Sitwell first. We know who he was, but there might be something in his file to tell us if he was Hydra or not,” Steve said, leaning closer to get a better look at the screen. “The we’ll look at Rumlow.”

Bucky nodded as he started typing, finally gaining access to the locked file he’d found before. Despite it being locked to anyone searching for it from outside of S.H.I.E.L.D., it didn’t contain anything that interesting. He wasn’t a field operative, but it seemed he was fairly high up in the hierarchy and had access to a lot of files and operations. If he was a mole, that could have been very problematic. 

Other than that, and his general vague creepiness, Bucky couldn’t see anything that would suggest Sitwell was a traitor. And having a bad feeling about someone wasn’t enough to go on.

“Do you have a feeling he’s Hydra or is it just me?” Steve asked with obvious uncertainty. 

Bucky could only nod. “There’s something about his face that gives off a ‘traitor’ vibe.”

Despite how unconcerned they sounded and the random silly topics of conversation that kept popping onto the agenda, Bucky knew Steve was just as concerned about Hydra as he was. How could they not be, they’d both fought them before and it was a long bloody fight that, in the end, did nothing to stop them. All their babble about cutting off one head and two more taking its place obviously wasn’t just talk. 

“Search Rumlow now,” Steve said. “There’s nothing more we can learn here. Though I doubt seeing Rumlow’s file is gonna do any good either.”

Bucky did just that, typing the name in quickly and pressing enter. He wasn’t sure if he had any expectations about this; after all, they already knew he was an agent, and Bucky doubted his file specifically said he was or wasn’t a part of Hydra. 

“I think it’s safe to assume he’s Hydra,” Bucky said once the file opened and a picture of Brock Rumlow appeared. Well, not because of his picture, though he did look shady as fuck.

“Why do you say that?” Steve asked, sounding more genuinely curious rather than opposed to the assessment. 

“It says he’s leader of S.T.R.I.K.E. One,” Bucky pointed out. “S.H.I.E.L.D. would not send him to follow you just to find me, they have low level agents they can spare for simple surveillance missions. They’d maybe, and that’s a huge maybe, mind you, send him and his team in if I was spotted and considered a bigger threat than expected.”

“And how would you know that?” Steve asked, eyebrow raised. He somehow managed that without looking too accusing. 

“It’s my job to know things,” Bucky shrugged, going for a mysterious air and almost laughing at the incredulous scoff Steve let out. He wasn’t about to say that he knew this due to logic and keeping in touch with Peggy and the Howlies who were the original S.T.R.I.K.E. team. As far as he could remember, they were only sent out on extremely classified and dangerous assignments. Looking for one vampire didn’t really fit the job description.

“Sure,” was all that Steve said to that. “But I hate to admit that your theory does make sense. It doesn’t get us far, though. What now?”

“We should go through more of these files, now that we have a chance,” Bucky said, already opening several other searches and folders. He wouldn’t be interested on a good day, but now that he was implicated in this, Bucky had no choice but to participate in this investigation. If finding the Hydra agents in S.H.I.E.L.D. was what he needed to do to be left alone again, then he better do it as fast as possible. 

“Am I supposed to just sit here while you do that?” Steve asked, and Bucky would have said he sounded slightly offended if he didn’t know any better.

But Steve’s question was a valid one; they couldn’t both use the laptop, and Steve was essentially useless if he didn’t get something else to do.

“Wait a sec,” Bucky said before hurrying down to the office and grabbing Sam’s tablet from his desk before he returned upstairs in a flash. He repeated the process of logging in on the tablet then handed it to Steve. “I hope you can read fast otherwise it’ll be a long night for you,” Bucky told him with a grin. 

“What am I looking for?” Steve asked, attention already on the tablet.

“I have no idea. Anything that looks like Peggy wouldn’t approve of, I guess,” Bucky said as he sat back down in front of the laptop. It was the best answer he could give considering he had no idea what they were looking for either. It wasn’t the best plan, but short of catching Rumlow and his friend then beating them up for information, it was the only plan they had.

Bucky could honestly say that nothing really fazed him anymore, not after the life he’d led, but it didn’t take long for him to realize that the instructions he’d given Steve would be a bit problematic. There were files on a great number of things Peggy definitely wouldn’t approve of, or so Bucky thought anyway because there was no telling what she signed off on out of everything he’d read.

He’d been reading for hours and there was only one thing he could tell was a Hydra file for sure. Steve migrated to the couch a while earlier, and Bucky was all alone at the table when he found the Project Winter Soldier file. The only reason he could recognize that as Hydra was because it was about him; the mission to infiltrate their base by getting captured in ‘44 wasn’t a long one, but he could still remember all of it clearly. 

Thanks to one myth about vampires being true, Bucky’s picture wasn’t in the file considering it wasn’t possible to take one. But his description was written in as impressive detail as the tests and experiments done to him. What he didn’t know, however, was how S.H.I.E.L.D. got a hold of a file he’d stolen from the Hydra base before burning it to the ground. Only one copy of it existed at that point and he’d given it to Peggy, as per the orders he’d gotten. He was told it had been destroyed, but the evidence of the opposite was right in front of him.

His blood ran cold, or rather colder than usually, at the sight of newer pages added to the file. These contained several pictures of test subjects, meaning none of them were vampires and all of them died as a result of the experimentation done to them. The files said as much ,and Bucky stopped reading at that point, after he’d only skimmed through the parts about himself. 

The irrational fear that Steve had noticed his moment of weakness presented itself as soon as he switched to a different file, and Bucky turned towards the couch, far less subtly than he’d do on a good day. It was important that Steve didn’t see him rattled, but Bucky couldn’t say why that was exactly. 

Steve, though, was splayed on the couch with the tablet rising and falling on his chest with every breath he took. He was fast asleep and looked more relaxed than the other times Bucky had seen him. Somehow, that was enough to make him relax as well and Bucky rubbed a hand over his face, feeling more tired suddenly than was actually physically possible for him. The laptop was off in a matter of moments, and Bucky was up, moving soundlessly as he draped a blanket over Steve and left the living room quickly, figuring he might as well take a break too. 

He didn’t stop until he reached his bedroom and instead of going to bed, Bucky stood in the middle of the room for a while, just trying to shake the feeling that things are only going to get worse from this point forward.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Comments are very appreciated and motivate me a lot ^^


	4. Chapter 4

One of the perks of being dead was that Bucky slept like it too. He could fall asleep as soon as his eyes were closed and his head hit the pillow, and he could wake up instantly at the smallest indication of danger. It was a useful skill, considering he still insisted on sleeping when he didn’t need to, especially when the danger wasn’t exactly of the mortal kind.

Bucky opened his eyes and all his senses were immediately trained on the intruder in his room. The only thing keeping him from going into kill mode was the fact he knew that heartbeat and the soft flutter of wings that could be heard if he tried hard enough, even if the wings themselves were hidden from view. 

Knowing it was Sam leaning against the doorframe didn’t really do much to calm him, though, because he could also hear someone in the kitchen and feel the smugness practically radiating off of Sam. That never bode well for Bucky and if he thought he could fool Sam into thinking he was still asleep, he’d give it his best shot. As is, Sam was already onto him.

“So,” he started, sounding awfully self satisfied, “there’s an elf making coffee in your kitchen.”

“How nice of him,” Bucky said, foolishly hoping that would be the end of that. 

“Did your life turn into a young adult romance novel while I was away or were you just keeping it from me all this time?” Sam asked, the smile obvious in his voice.

“Says the fae dating a demigod,” Bucky said with a roll of his eyes because he knew where this was going and he was not a fan.

“I can’t believe you found yourself a  _ child of the sun _ ,” Sam said, the ridiculous old name rolling off his tongue mockingly, and Bucky rolled his eyes again. He wasn’t sure who made those idiotic titles popular, but he hated them with a passion and if another person called him a child of the moon, he might rip someone’s head off. 

Stories of vampires and elves, the polar opposites of nature as it were, finding love were the most popular pieces of romance fiction, and Bucky did his best to pretend none of it existed. Which was very difficult when Sam made it a point to buy every single one of those novels only to read them out loud between appointments, knowing full well that Bucky could hear him no matter how softly he spoke. Surely, this was what hell would be like for him. 

“Don’t do it, Sam,” Bucky said, aiming more towards threatening than pleading. 

“Were you attracted to his rippling muscles or was it the smile that was made of sunshine?” Sam asked, an absolutely dreamy look on his face. It was as fake as the stereotype that the fae were nice and compassionate. 

“Sam, shut up.”

“Did he rip his shirt open to accept your dark sinning soul to his firm manly pecs?” Sam continued as if Bucky hadn’t spoken at all.

“I swear, Sam, I will murder you.” It was at times like these that Bucky wished he could still get drunk.

“Does he feel like hard steel covered with the finest silk?” Sam asked, obviously on a roll. “Is his hair made of gold and rays of sunshine?”

“Why are you doing this to me,” Bucky said rather than asked because he knew there wouldn’t be an answer anyway.

“Did his manhood fill you with sunlight? Is he your sun now after centuries of living in the darkness?” Sam continued, gaining more traction and honestly, Bucky had no idea what else might leave his mouth.

“You know I can hear you, right?” Steve piped up from the kitchen, and Bucky felt embarrassment of the kind he hadn’t felt in a lifetime.

“Well you might as well answer my questions if he’s not going to,” Sam said with absolutely no guilt on his face.

Steve showed up in the doorway, looking at Sam first before glancing into the room and looking at Bucky. He felt oddly self conscious, sitting there in a pair of pajama pants with little bats on them and an old shirt he wouldn’t wear in public, but Steve only grinned at him before turning back to Sam.

“My shirt rips itself open whenever I’m near someone in need of saving, he’s the one that has muscles of steel and skin like silk, my hair is more sunshine than gold and my manhood doesn’t shoot out sunshine, but I’m sure I fucked all the darkness right out of him,” Steve said with a straight face, and Sam went from looking astonished to almost choking on his own tongue. 

Sam stood there, speechless, just staring at Steve for a long moment that Bucky didn’t want to interrupt, and Steve was staring right back.

“Well played,” was all Sam said as he narrowed his eyes, only nodding once before he walked away. Judging from the sounds, he was in the kitchen, pouring coffee and probably finding something for breakfast, both for himself and Steve most likely.

“Fucked all the darkness right out of me, huh?” Bucky asked, letting his amusement show now that Sam was out of sight. “That’s a bold statement.”

He finally got out of bed, not thinking about his pajama pants anymore and the fact anyone other than Sam was seeing him in them.

“It could happen,” Steve said, leaning against the doorframe like Sam had been earlier. “If you’d ever read one of those romance novels, you would know that my  _ manhood _ ,” he paused, rolling his eyes at the word, “has magic powers.”

Bucky snorted, hardly believing that this was an actual conversation he was leading with Steve, but then again, none of the conversations they’d had so far were anything remotely normal so he supposed it was to be expected.

“I’m sure it does,” he said, making his way towards Steve, stopping only when they were just shy of touching. “We could test that out sometime,” he whispered with a smile before he stepped back and away, walking out towards the kitchen to join Sam.

“Did my rippling muscles finally sway you?” Steve asked as he walked into the kitchen as well. 

“Were you working towards that the entire time?” Bucky asked with a snort. He’d been doing that a lot lately.

“Of course,” Steve said, accepting a cup of coffee from Sam. “You can’t just turn all of this off,” he added, hands gesturing to essentially all of him and that, paired with the ridiculously seductive look on his face, made Bucky snort again.

“Not that I don’t enjoy whatever the hell is going on here,” Sam interrupted, “because I am, very much, but I need you,” he said, pointing at Bucky, “to tell me what the hell you did while I was gone and how we’re about to fix it.”

Bucky froze, staring right at Sam, and he could tell from the corner of his eye that Steve was in much the same state.

“What do you mean?” Bucky asked.

“Well, first of all, there’s a shady car parked across the street with at least two people in it with very dark intentions,” Sam said seriously, “and second, all of a sudden you’ve got an elf in your house. No offense to you, man,” he paused, turning to point at Steve in a very accusatory manner, “but elves are nothing but trouble. So what did you do and how do we fix it?”

Steve was glaring now, though he did seem impressed too, which was a very unlikely combination as far as facial expressions went. But Bucky was impressed as well, with Sam’s observation skills and the way he drew conclusions that were greatly correct. And Bucky gave him bonus points for saying Steve was trouble because that just coincided with what Clint had said. 

“Well, first of all,” Bucky started, mimicking the way Sam had spoken, “I did nothing wrong. End of story.”

“I’m not gonna say anything,” Steve said diplomatically, though he did look like he had a lot to say.

“You’ve said enough already,” Sam told him with that look of his that suggested both Steve and Bucky were colossal idiots. Then he turned his attention back to Bucky. “Are you ignoring the part where I mentioned there are two men parked in front of our building with probably murder on their mind?”

“It’s probably not murder,” Bucky said. Truth be told, he was trying to pretend Sam hadn’t mentioned it so there would be no need to tell him about what was going on. Steve was already in the middle of the situation, but that didn’t mean Sam had to be involved too.

“You know you can’t lie to me, Barnes,” Sam said seriously, almost threateningly. 

“I’m not lying.”

“He really isn’t, I can vouch for that,” Steve added, but his words had a less helpful effect than he was probably hoping for. Bucky almost elbowed him, but that would have been suspicious. Well, more so than they already were.

They were saved by the buzzer going off, and Sam only had time to glare at them both, one at a time, before he walked downstairs with his mug in hand. Bucky hated keeping things from Sam, and it wasn’t really Bucky’s place to make decisions for Sam, even out of an obligation to protect him.

“So,” Steve started once they were alone, “we should try seeing if my dick has magic powers, hm? And here I thought you’d never change your mind about me.”

“I did say that and I’d love to talk about that some more, but we should probably talk about the Hydra guys that apparently found where I live,” Bucky said with an exasperated sigh. They didn’t really get that far in their search and there was still no semblance of a plan in place so this was the last thing they needed at the moment. Well, Hydra agents at his doorstep and flirting. 

“Maybe that’s not them and it’s just random shady people. New York’s full of them,” Steve suggested, but didn’t really sound too convinced of his theory, even though he was right about the level of shadiness going on in the city.

“I wish I could believe that, but it’s not highly likely,” Bucky said, grabbing himself a cup of coffee before going over to the dining table where his laptop was. “How far did you get with the files?” Bucky asked, looking over at Steve who made his way to the couch to pick up the tablet he’d been using.

“Pretty far, I think, but S.H.I.E.L.D. did so many questionable things, it’s hard to say which of them could be Hydra,” Steve said with a frown. “Do you have a charger for this? The battery died.”

Bucky got up and started the search for a charger while Steve sat at the table. “Did you find anything noteworthy? I’ve only found one that’s Hydra’s for sure, but that project isn’t active.”

“Do I want to know how you know that?” Steve asked, sounding more severe than he probably meant to. 

“I’ll tell you about it once,” Bucky promised. “But I’m sure it’s not active anymore and even if they’re looking for me specifically because of it, it’s not gonna be active unless they actually catch me.”

“Now I’m pretty sure I don’t want to know,” Steve said just as Bucky found the charger and turned back to Steve. “I think I have one that might help us, though,” he added as he plugged the charger in and turned the tablet on. “It was titled Operation Paperclip, and I noticed it because it lists Arnim Zola as one of the scientists that were recruited by S.H.I.E.L.D. a while after the war. He seems like a pretty good candidate for reviving Hydra inside of S.H.I.E.L.D.” 

“Shit, Zola?” Bucky couldn’t help but ask. “Well, that explains the newer notes on the file I found. He was the creator of the Winter Soldier Project for Hydra during the war.”

“That’s not the same project as the one that ended with Red Skull getting his name, is it?” Steve asked and his face revealed such a level of disgust, Bucky couldn’t help but remember the stories he’d heard about the masked elf and his long fight against the Skull himself. 

“No, not as far as I know,” Bucky said. “The Winter Soldier project was aimed at vampires specifically and it only failed ‘cause we’re pretty hard to capture. What do you know about the other one?”

“I know it failed when they tried it on him,” Steve said. “I’m pretty sure they dropped that after Erskine defected to the States.”

Bucky sat back down in front of his laptop. “You keep going through the files and I’ll search for any mention of Zola in any of the others. He’s probably the best lead we have so far.”

“Hydra people are idiots,” Steve said suddenly, shaking his head at the tablet in his hand. 

“I know, but why do you say that now?” Bucky asked, turning towards Steve for a moment so it was clear he was paying attention.

“I just found a file with their logo inside a regular S.H.I.E.L.D. mission report.” Steve looked like he was done with their stupidity. “Do you think anyone’s even read these? Because these are definitely not S.H.I.E.L.D.”

“What do you have?” Bucky asked, attention fully on Steve until the tablet was handed to him and he could read for himself.

It looked like a regular mission report, if he ignored the Hydra logo plastered on it instead of the S.H.I.E.L.D. one. Steve was right, they were still complete idiots, but it was obvious that the entire S.T.R.I.K.E. Team One was Hydra’s. Someone who wasn’t used to the inner workings of a special forces team probably wouldn’t notice, but Bucky could see that the mission in question wasn’t one that required a S.T.R.I.K.E. team. What it also meant, though, was that someone high ranking in S.H.I.E.L.D. was a Hydra agent because there weren’t that many people who could deploy a S.T.R.I.K.E. team. 

It’d been a long time since Bucky’d been in combat, and he wasn’t sure he could take on an entire team so this was definitely bad news, even if it didn’t help the figure out who was in charge. 

“How long’s it been since you used your combat skills?” Bucky asked before he looked up and handed the tablet back.

“Pretty long,” Steve admitted, and Bucky didn’t really feel good about that. Knowing his luck, getting into a fight was inevitable. He was not looking forward to it.

* * *

Time turned into a weird concept when they did nothing but read files for hours on end, files that were either boring or slightly disturbing. There was information he didn’t need to know, ever. He could tell Steve shared the sentiment. So when Sam climbed the stairs, the air of relief was unmistakable. 

“There are a couple of new cases and you’re behind on some of the older ones,” Sam said as he made his way towards the kitchen. For a vampire, Bucky’s kitchen was surprisingly well stocked, mostly for Sam and when he’d worked late, just like right then. 

“Can you take care of that for a while?” Bucky asked, leaning back in the chair and rubbing his eyes. They weren’t actually tired, but it was a nervous tic he hadn’t managed to shake since he was a mortal. 

“Only if you tell me what you two are working on,” Sam demanded. 

“It’s not really easy to explain unless you have a military background like ours,” Steve piped up. For a man his size, he could blend into his surroundings so easily, Bucky almost forgot he was there at times. Almost.

“I was in the army, I think I can understand,” Sam said, his eyebrow raised and he looked like he was ready to fight Steve.

“We’re looking for Hydra moles inside of S.H.I.E.L.D.,” Bucky said, choosing the path of least resistance. It was easier to tell Sam than keep it from him, after all. “Now will you take over my cases for a while?” he asked, looking over to Sam.

“Sure,” he replied, looking slightly dazed by the information he received. “That’s definitely more serious than I thought. I was sure you two were just too busy having weird sex.”

“Is that what you think about when you’re bored at work?” Steve asked, looking more innocent than he actually was, and Bucky was very glad Steve seemed to be on his side most of the time. Even if there was a surprising amount of sex talk. 

“Better that than thinking about those two creepers still camped out across the street,” Sam said. “I would have thought they had some other business here, but considering they didn’t move for hours…” he trailed off with a grimace. Those words brought back the serious look on Steve’s face, and Bucky almost surprised himself as he mourned the carefree teasing smile that was now gone. 

“I think we should make contact,” Steve said,and Bucky snapped his gaze to him, leveling him with a glare.

“That’s not a great idea,” Bucky said. Steve looked at him, a glare of his own in place.

“And why is that?” 

“Even if we take them out, which we are not allowed to do, by the way, we won’t get any further in our search,” Bucky said, certain he was sounding reasonable. “And it’d probably be suspicious if they don’t come back.”

Steve had that look on his face, just like the first time they’d met and he saw Bucky was a private investigator, but refused to apologize right away. It was the look of a man that knew he was wrong and that Bucky was absolutely right, he just didn’t want to admit it just yet.

“He does have a point,” Sam said instead, a ridiculously smug look on his face as he stared at Steve. Bucky could see a beautiful friendship being born, even if it did look like a rivalry at the moment. 

“Of course I have a point, I’m an expert on this kind of thing,” Bucky said, earning the same withering look on both Steve and Sam’s face. At least they agreed on something.

“Fine,” Steve said, though he didn’t sound happy about it. “So what are we gonna do then?”

“Unless you’ve failed to mention something, neither of us is still on active duty, Steve,” Bucky started. “We have no authority and aren’t supposed to be dealing with this at all so if we’re going to start something, we need to have proof beyond a gut feeling that those guys are shady enough to be Hydra.”

Sam was nodding at that, his approval with Bucky’s words coming as anything but a surprise. Bucky didn’t know Steve that long, but he could tell with undeniable certainty that Sam was the only truly reasonable person in the room. Case in point, Steve didn’t look entirely convinced of that plan, looking instead like he was ready to jump out the window and drop kick the SUV those two fake cops were sitting in. 

“You know I’m right, Steve,” Bucky said, looking straight at him, hoping his expression conveyed the pleading that Steve would stay there and not march into a fist fight that would probably end badly for him.

“I’m not saying that you are,” Steve started before he sighed deeply, “but fine, let’s do it your way.”

“Alright, so what are we doing?” Sam asked, rubbing his hands together as if he was itching to start working.

“Don’t you have someone to go home to?” Bucky asked, eyebrow raised. “Your workday is over, you know, and T’Challa will get pissed at me if he thinks I’m giving you overtime again.”

“He had to go out of town,” Sam said, “but even if he hadn’t, I’d still be able to stay and help.”

“You agreed to take over my cases while I deal with this,” Bucky reminded him.

“Already closed some of them,” Sam scoffed. “Seriously, one of them was an old lady looking for her missing husband who just so happens to be dead. Has been for ten years. I think I can spare a couple of hours on research if you two promise not to jump each other while I’m within earshot.”

“And here I was, thinking you’d appreciate a show,” Steve said without looking up from the tablet. At this point, Sam just rolled his eyes as his only reaction before his attention was back on Bucky.

“You know I’m better with technology than you are, grandpa,” Sam said with a pointed look. 

Sam wasn’t wrong, per se; Bucky was pretty good with this stuff considering he lived through the rise and development of technology, but he didn’t have much of an interest in it beyond what he needed for work. Sam, on the other hand, was great at finding things that probably weren’t meant to be found. 

Steve took the opportunity to chuckle softly. “Grandpa,” he whispered, still focused on the tablet.

“You’re probably older than I am, crypt keeper,” Bucky rolled his eyes this time. “How are you such a dork?”

“I always thought elves were so cool and mysterious,” Sam lamented. “Way to shatter my illusions.”

“Let’s not get into that right now,” Bucky said before Steve could reply to that and probably start a snark war. “Sam, you can get your laptop from downstairs and I’ll show you what to. Steve, you can sass us if you find something noteworthy,” he continued, figuring he’d better give them something to do while they were actually listening to him.

“Who made you boss?” Steve asked with a raised eyebrow and a barely there smirk. 

“I did,” Bucky told him. “Now get back to work.”

“I’m gonna have to go home at some point, though,” Steve replied with a sigh, once again not looking like he was happy about it. “Clint took over for me in the shop today, but you know, a shower and clean clothes would be nice and I’m not about to wear any of your stuff.”

Bucky could only nod, figuring that would be brought up at some point, but couldn’t help but comment. “Too bad, I have a pair of pants with a flower print and a tie dye shirt just made for you. I’m sure we could find you a flower crown, too.”

“Ha-ha,” was all Steve said, sounding impressively sarcastic.

“Sam’s gonna take over for now and I’ll go take a look at one of these locations mention for the Winter Soldier project, see if it’s still in use,” Bucky said seriously, though he let himself smile a little at the deadpan look on Steve’s face.

“And I should do what exactly?” Steve asked just as seriously.

“Go home, rest, continue going through the files and come back here tomorrow if you want to.”

“You don’t have to leave, Bucky’s got a pair of floral print pants that were pretty much made for an elf like you,” Sam said as he came back up the stairs with his laptop in hand.

“Already offered,” Bucky said with a grin. “I don’t know how he managed the strength to refuse such an amazing offer.”

“I’m just gonna go then,” Steve said then, “and I’m borrowing your tablet,” he added, waving the tablet towards Sam. It looked ridiculously tiny in his hands.

“Sure, sure,” Sam nodded solemnly, but Bucky could tell he was faking the seriousness, “I’ll let you have an excuse to come back and see Bucky.”

Steve just rolled his eyes and started for the stairs, picking up his jacket on the way. He offered only a small wave before disappearing from sight.

“Use the door!” Bucky shouted after him while Sam snorted by his side.

“I do what I want!” Steve shouted back before his presence left the building, and Bucky couldn’t help but grin.

“I like him,” Sam said, sounding amused, but something about his tone was genuine and sincere.

“Don’t pull that fae crap on me, Sam,” Bucky said, more out of a need to get out of the conversation than being mad at the inevitable meddling. 

“Don’t pull that disinterested crap on me, man,” Sam said, allowing no shit. “I like him and I can see you do too. Go for it, you’re both ancient and sarcastic, what could possibly go wrong,” he added with a grin, and Bucky couldn’t help but laugh a little at that as well.

Bucky took a moment to set everything up on Sam’s laptop before he returned to his own, picking up where he’d left off when Sam interrupted them. Now that Steve was gone, though, Bucky opened his file again, feeling more ready to go through the newer notes now than he was the day before. Hard to say why, but somehow it felt easier to distance himself from the information if Steve and his keen eye weren’t anywhere near. 

He scrolled through the parts about him and his time with Hydra; that part of the file was both outdated and all too familiar to him so he wasn’t looking to deal with that, but the newer notes could have been promising. Especially after knowing Zola was around at that time. Bucky hated that man with everything he had and that wasn’t something he felt for many. 

Reading his notes about the experiments on those non-vampire subjects just made the intensity of the hate grow stronger, and none of it looked like it would help him now, unless Zola was still alive and Bucky wanted to get rid of him. Which wasn’t a priority, but Bucky felt he could make time for it if the opportunity presented itself. There were no mentions of what exactly those test subjects were or their names, of course, but Bucky found himself disturbed most at the detailed description of the desired effects of the project. It was the first time he’d actually found what it was about, other than being aimed at vampires.

According to what he’d read, only vampires, and maybe demons, would be able to withstand being frozen for long periods of time and still remain functional after being taken out of the ice. And that was after being subjected to a combination of magic and drugs that would affect their memory and leave them bound to a single master, which was a process no one but the undead could endure.

The amount of disturbing observations was almost enough to make him miss the reference to a different project held by SSR. Only almost, though, because he was still very good at what he did and ‘Rebirth’ wasn’t a word that fit into everything he’d read so far.

“You okay over there?” Sam asked suddenly, looking at him with concerned eyes in that way he usually did if a particularly devastating case came their way. 

“Yeah, I think I found something though,” was all Bucky said as he typed away, looking for an explanation about what this Rebirth was.

Sam obviously wasn’t convinced as he got up and came over to sit next to Bucky, in the chair Steve had taken the day before, where he had a good view of Bucky’s laptop screen. Bucky ignored him for the moment, though, focusing on weeding out the files that only mentioned the word as he looked for the actual file on whatever it was.

Finding it took longer than he expected, but he’d found it eventually and opened it more eagerly than he probably had a right to be. But this was progress, or at least he hoped it was. 

“Project Rebirth, 1942,” Sam read aloud when the page appeared. “Abraham Erskine, project leader and Howard Stark, mechanics. What does that mean?” Sam wondered before he shook his head and read further, silently this time. Bucky was reading too, the cold dread he felt when he had found his file the day before returning, though he couldn’t pinpoint the cause just yet so he scrolled down for the rest of the page.

He wasn’t too thrilled about what was written, the detailed process of creating a super soldier out of regular humans with a serum Erskine was working on. There was more magic mentioned than Bucky understood or had ever heard of, but what made the dread even colder was a list of races that would make the best donor for the serum. Elves topped the list by far, and Bucky knew that was it, the detail that made it clear he wouldn’t like the rest of the information contained in the file.

“Is that Steve?” Sam asked incredulously and interrupted Bucky’s reading, shifting his attention to the small photograph of Steve, his light hair and pale eyes unmistakable even on a black and white picture. 

“Shit,” Bucky whispered, unable to say anything else at the moment. He was already reading, trying to find whether this was anything like the Winter Soldier project, with the memory wiping and experiments that were nothing but torture. 

What he found, though, was that Steve had been a donor, letting his blood be used to make a serum that would create super soldiers needed to win the war. They were much needed back in 1942, but Bucky could tell something went wrong because no super soldiers made it to the war and only a year later, Peggy was recruiting him. Bucky wasn’t reading anymore, though, so he had no idea what went wrong because he had other things on his mind. 

He did his best to skim through the rest of his file, only to see whether there were newer additions like there were in his file, because this seemed like something Hydra would be interested in continuing. If he remembered correctly, Erskine was the same man in charge making a serum for the Red Skull; the same one that gave him that awful, albeit fitting name. Bucky was at least glad Steve wasn’t under Hydra’s influence. 

The thought of someone in Hydra figuring out who Steve was, though, made him anxious. It would explain why Steve was being followed, if nothing else, but Bucky couldn’t figure out what they wanted from him. There wasn’t a single digital file on him or his service and the only copy was safe in Peggy’s hands. If she trusted Natasha enough to share it, then Bucky did too. Even if he was a bit reluctant about it.

“I know Steve can take care of himself, but I think you should maybe take a walk around the neighborhood and see if you run into him,” Sam said seriously, his voice low and eyes glued to the screen. “You know, to see if he’d like to come back and hang out.”

Bucky understood what Sam was saying and he couldn’t agree more. Yes, Steve was more than qualified to take care of himself, but there was a nagging feeling at the back of his mind that Steve was also capable of doing something extremely stupid. Clint’s mentions of him finding trouble didn’t really make it better. 

“Keep going through the files,” Bucky said as he stood up, “while I go out.” 

He didn’t wait for a reply before hurrying into his room to change out of the pajamas he was still wearing, doing his best to be as fast as possible. It would have been impressive, given different circumstances.

“I’ll be back soon, I hope,” Bucky said on his way out, as he passed Sam on his way to the stairs. He didn’t bother with the door, just as he knew Steve hadn’t either, a fact that was confirmed as soon as Bucky dropped down into the alley and spotted Sam’s tablet on the ground. The screen was smashed and it didn’t take a genius to know Steve wouldn’t have done that.

Bucky hurried through the alley, towards the main street that was emptier than he would have expected, but it allowed for an unobstructed view of the parking spaces across the street where the Hydra goons had been parked. Key words being ‘had been’ because they certainly weren’t there anymore nor anywhere else around the building. He didn’t think he’d be pissed about not being followed by Hydra, but in this situation Bucky knew it was bad that they were gone.

There was no knowing when they grabbed Steve, considering Bucky lost track of time and really had no idea when exactly Steve had left. But he knew well enough that he had a few minutes to spare, so he fished his phone out of his jacket pocket and dialed Matt’s number, hoping like hell that Matt carried his phone with him.

Matt answered after the second ring, easing Bucky’s worry at least a little.

“I need your help,” Bucky said without waiting for Matt to speak. Yes, it was rude and he’d have to apologize later, but he didn’t have that much time at the moment.

“Okay,” Matt said simply.

“I need you to check something out for me,” Bucky started before rattling off the address he’d found for the lab where the Winter Soldier project was supposed to be revived. 

“What am I looking for?” Matt asked, and Bucky was grateful that was the only question he wanted answered at the moment.

“I need to know if it’s active and if there are people there, what kind of equipment and all that. It should be pretty clear if there’s a criminal organization there.”

“Alright,” Matt said. “I’ll call you.” And with that he hung up, leaving Bucky free to track Steve and his two Hydra companions through the city. It’s been a long while since he’d done that on a bigger scale that just following someone around the city, but it wasn’t something he’d ever forget. This was decades and centuries of instinct helping him find Steve, and Bucky knew he’d succeed. 

What he didn’t know, though, was what would happen once he found Steve and not knowing worried him. Probably more so than the fact that Steve was taken considering Steve seemed to be itching for a fight with the men following him. Bucky had no doubt that Steve would be alright, on the long run, but that did nothing to stop him from following after wherever it was that they went.

He stood in the street for a moment, his senses reaching out to the heartbeat he memorized as Steve’s and focused on that, tuning out the others he heard around himself. With that to guide him, Bucky moved through the city, silent and fast, nothing but a shadow in the crowd as he followed the steady calm beat of Steve’s heart. 

Yeah, Steve would definitely be just fine.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Comments help motivate me, just so y'all know :D


	5. Chapter 5

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Just one more chapter to go ^^

* * *

Following the sound of Steve’s heart beating steadily was easy, especially paired with his enhanced senses that guided him through the city. The fact that the sound he’d been following remained calm and steady only served to ease the worry Bucky had felt and made him focus on his task without panicking about Steve’s safety. His heartbeat didn’t lie, Steve was as calm as he’d been the entire day or, well, as he’d been whenever Bucky caught himself checking just to remember that pattern.

He realized that was technically creepy, but he’d made it a priority to memorize this about the people he held close, so he’d have a way of finding them if needed. Obviously, this practice was proving to be useful, more than it had been with the Commandos back in Europe. They were an entity in itself, all of them connected  and their hearts beating as one. As far as sentiments went, this was a nice one, unity and family like Bucky hadn’t know in so long. For tracking purposes, though, it was impossible and not in the least bit useful.

For Sam, Bucky memorized the flutter of his wings. It was easier on his ears, in any case, with the way the fae had heartbeats like hummingbirds, and it almost drove Bucky mad just listening to it. The fae never made much sense to him, anyway. 

Steve’s, though, sounded like a drum, loud and strong, and if Bucky focused hard enough, he could almost see a flash of sunlight in the distances, it’s shape distinctly resembling Steve. He let that slip his mind, hating how he was sounding like one of Sam’s novels, cheesy and overly romantic when that was the last thing he was going for. 

It did make his search that much easier and faster, leading him out of the city and into New Jersey. That should have probably made him worry all over again as he passed the city limits and moved into harpy territory. He wasn’t too fond of going there, just as pretty much any true New Yorker, and Bucky was pretty sure he wouldn’t be coming back there any time soon once he found Steve. 

Harpies were loud, from the violently strong flaps of their wings to the screeching voices, but they were dead inside without a heartbeat to speak of. They knew how to stay silent, though, when sneaking up on prey, and the flying only made it worse so it wasn’t really out there for Bucky to expect harpy guards wherever Steve was held. If nothing else, he wouldn’t stand a chance against a flock of them without a weapon of his own. They were like wolves in that regard, in tune with each other to the point where they shared thoughts as a collective and were generally a pain to fight.

Which is why Bucky avoided that as much as he could.

He was able to slip past them, though, moving as silently as a shadow down on the ground and away from their watchful eyes. New Jersey was pretty much a harpy infested wasteland so it didn’t take him that long to figure where he was going. There was only one place still standing that could be used by Hydra and it was only by chance that Bucky even knew about it.

Camp Lehigh fit right in with the surroundings, looking abandoned with overgrown grass and buildings hidden under a layer of moss and ivy. Only the high metal fence separated it from the surrounding area. 

Bucky could see no guards, but that hardly meant there were none. Still, he was confident no one saw him approach; after all, stealth was his forte, and he didn’t have a weapon with him so sneaking in seemed like a better idea than fighting his way in. 

The fence was easy to climb, swiftly and without a sound. Bucky let the beat of Steve’s heart fade into a low pleasant thrum at the back of his mind while he focused on his surroundings, looking for guards or Hydra agents, but didn’t find any. That was suspicious, but at the same time, it made sense. No one was expecting him, hopefully, and finding Steve should be an easy task, both of them getting out even easier. 

Only when he’d gotten closer to one of the buildings did he feel the presence of others in addition to Steve. There weren’t many, only half a dozen around Steve and one separate from them. There was something familiar there, but Bucky let it slide, focusing on how to get to Steve without getting spotted.

It was a slightly more difficult task now that he was meant to go inside a building and underground, apparently, without relying on an elevator that would be very old and probably very loud. Slowly, he was getting more comfortable with the idea of engaging the guards around Steve to at least knock them out before escaping. Bucky would rather not be seen or recognized, if he could help it, but he wasn’t really up for killing anyone at the moment. 

He wasn’t really up for crawling through old as hell ventilation shafts either, but it became clear pretty soon that it was the only way in. There wasn’t a cobweb left undisturbed by the time Bucky made it to the middle of the ground floor. Stopping there for a moment, it was clear there was no one there, just as he’d suspected.

It wasn’t really surprising, but technically this was meant to be an ammunitions storage even if it was built in the wrong place and it wasn’t supposed to have a basement. Yet, the elevator shaft was just a short distance from him, and Bucky crawled towards it, intent on using the cables to go down. Not one of his best plans ever, but he knew he’d have to make due with what he had which, admittedly, wasn’t very much. 

The elevator started moving then, going up with three of the six people inside it, but that one presence further away was what intrigued Bucky. It would have been easier if he could read intent, but that was part of Sam’s skillset and not his, unfortunately, because knowing they they were intending with Steve would make this whole mission easier. Still, the elevator passed him by without incident and not a single person indicated that he was noticed, so Bucky opened the grate and jumped down the elevator shaft, silently opening the doors into the basement level before the elevator came back down. 

Even though there was no one around, the lights were on, those awful neon ones that Bucky hated probably more than the sun itself, bathing everything in an unnatural glow. Bucky hated those because they made him look even more dead than he was, aside from being awfully bright. Still, there were shadows he could use to move around unnoticed, even if someone were to come in unexpectedly. 

Not that there were many who could sneak up on him. 

Bucky continued sneaking towards the door that led to Steve, finally close enough to hear the people behind it. The voices, three of them, sounded fairly nervous, but there was a definite note of excitement in them and frankly that was what concerned Bucky. They were obviously scientists and that generally never bode well when Hydra was concerned. 

What Bucky didn’t hear, though, was Steve. He’d be concerned with that too, except his heartbeat was still normal, calm in a way it had been even before he was taken, which probably should have alarmed Bucky. No one could be  _ that _ calm when abducted, and Bucky was pretty sure there was more to that than he’d thought earlier. 

Now that he’d gotten over the initial shock and anger about Steve being taken, some things were starting to raise questions. Mostly how the hell someone managed to get the upper hand over Steve, the star spangled elf himself. Most of the rumors Bucky had heard about that mysterious elf came from the Howlies, which was why he tended to believe them, no matter how outlandish they’d sounded. So knowing Steve took out an entire Hydra bunker with nothing but a red, white and blue suit and a shield made Bucky suspicious about the whole abduction. Something was definitely off.

Bucky’s attention shifted back to the door when it opened, and a man, dressed in a white lab coat and a pristine white shirt tucked into black trousers came out. With the ugly tie and the big glasses, he looked exactly like every other scientist Bucky had come across. He didn’t know what it was about scientists that they preferred this particular look, but Bucky wasn’t particularly a fan. 

The man hurried towards the elevator, and Bucky chose his moment to pounce carefully, but when he did, it happened fast and the guy never saw him coming. They were both hidden in the shadow barely a moment later, Bucky’s hands covering his mouth and nose with an iron grip until the guy sagged in his arms, losing consciousness. Bucky wasn’t looking to kill anyone unless it was a kill or be killed situation and that definitely wasn’t the case with these scientists. 

Leaving him lying behind some crates, Bucky made his way towards the door again. He managed to sneak a peek and see where the other two were, noticing Steve tied to a chair in the middle of the room. Steve seemed to be the only one to notice Bucky was even there, which made Bucky run inside, faster than what they could see and he knocked the two scientists out while Steve watched him with a grin. Far too big of a grin for the situation, actually, but Bucky didn’t really have it in him to keep thinking of Steve as suspicious anymore. It was too much work, and he really didn’t feel like it.

“My hero,” Steve told him, grin still in place. Bucky didn’t let that sway him, though, because he figured Steve out.

“You let them take you, didn’t you?” he asked, taking a stand in front of Steve and crossing his arms. It was probably not as scary as it would be to anyone else, but Bucky didn’t really want to intimidate Steve anway. “Look at those cuffs, you could have broken out of those ages ago.”

“That is a possibility, yes,” Steve said, still cheerful, and Bucky wanted to punch him just a little. The blood drying on Steve’s face and staining the front of his shirt, though, made that passing thought nothing more than just that. 

“We said no contact, Steve,” Bucky said, narrowing his eyes. “Does this look like no contact to you?”

Steve at least had the decency to pretend he felt bad about it, though Bucky knew better. He finally understood what Clint meant about Steve attracting trouble. 

“There was not as much contact as you may think,” Steve said, looking sheepish, but Bucky wasn’t buying it. “I wanted to see where they’d take me and who would be here.”

“The hell were you thinking, Steve?” Bucky raised his voice a little, enough that his point would get across, but not enough that anyone else outside would hear him. “You insisted that we do this together so at least show me the courtesy of letting me know when you’re gonna do something idiotic! Not to mention that they were probably looking for you specifically!”

There was so much more Bucky could rant about and yell at Steve for, but he was interrupted before he got winded enough. Steve rose from the chair, the cuffs broken just as easily as Bucky suspected they could be, and his hands were sliding along Bucky’s jaw and into his hair in no time at all. Bucky could have moved away, he was fast enough for that, but he didn’t, he let Steve close the distance between them and press their lips together. 

He was almost shocked by the heat of Steve’s lips and his hands, gentle and soft in Bucky’s hair, the firmness with which he kissed like his life depended on it. Bucky suspected Steve was trying to kiss all sense out of him to stop the yelling and honestly, he was doing a pretty good job of it, but Bucky wasn’t about to let him get off that easily even if he was kissing back with just as much enthusiasm as Steve was. 

“This isn’t the show I came here to see, but I’m not gonna complain,” a familiar voice said, sounding awfully amused.

With a lot more determination than he thought he had, Bucky pulled away with his hands firm on Steve’s chest to keep him from following. They both turned, eyes immediately falling onto Natasha who stood by the door Bucky used to get in.

“Well, if it isn’t Mrs. Sitwell,” Bucky said with more distaste than he initially aimed for. 

“Nat?” Steve asked at the same time, and Bucky could bless him for the genuine sincerity in his voice. “What are you doing here?”

“I was in the neighborhood,” she said, looking exactly like she was hiding a lot of secrets, but this time it seemed more natural than when Bucky had met her. Seeing her like this put things in perspective and just painted her behavior back in his office as completely fake. He could see it clearly now that he could compare the disguise with this, what was probably closer to the real her than the fake Mrs. Sitwell.

Bucky knew better than to question her about her actual motives, considering she was a spy and there was no telling if she’d ever tell them. Steve didn’t look like he believed her much either.

“You boys don’t have to keep hugging for me, you know,” she said, the same amusement still present. Bucky didn’t like it much. 

Steve let him go slowly, though, no sign of him trying to get away from Bucky as fast as possible now that Natasha pointed out they were still looking more intimate than they should be, given their current location.

“Nat,” Steve said, his voice low and dangerous, sounding like a warning, and Bucky kind of wanted to kiss him again. 

“I was hoping to rescue you, but your knight beat me to it,” she said, smirking at Bucky. “Good work, by the way.” Bucky only glared so she continued. “You were both under surveillance, but the good news is that they only want to kill Mr. Barnes.”

“How is that good news?” Steve asked, again with genuine confusion.

“Well, they want you alive,” she said as if that explained everything. “If you found the file about Rebirth, you already know what I’m talking about.” She looked straight at Bucky as she said it, but Bucky’s attention was on Steve and he didn’t miss the slight widening of Steve’s eyes.

“How did you-” Steve started, but Natasha raised a hand and made him stop speaking.

“Doesn’t matter,” she said. “You two are now officially done with this. We’ll take care of the rest.”

Before either of them could protest, though Bucky wasn’t sure he wanted to, she turned around and started walking away. 

“By the way, you two should leave right now,” she added, glancing over her shoulder before she was gone.

“She’s right,” Bucky said, pulling Steve towards the door. “We need to go before those other three guys come back or the scientists wake up.”

“We can take them,” Steve said, making Bucky turn around to make sure his incredulity didn’t go unnoticed.

“Obviously, but we’re not gonna,” Bucky said, observing as Steve grabbed his jacket from the far corner of the room. “Now come on, Sam’s probably waiting for us.”

Steve followed, silently at first until they reached the ground floor using the elevator this time. It was easy to check whether there were more people, and Bucky felt it was safe to use the elevator since those other three left earlier and didn’t stick around. There was no force that could make him go back through the ventilation. 

“You know you’ve got cobwebs in your hair and pretty much everywhere else?” Steve asked, as if reading his mind. “Is that something vampires do?”

“And yet you still kissed me,” he replied, as dryly as possible. “Are you trying to distract me again?” Bucky asked, leading the way out of the elevator, not bothering to cover their tracks. They’d know someone had been there anyway so there was no point. “Because no matter how great of a kisser you are, I will still yell at you when we get back.”

“You’re not so bad yourself,” Steve said, and Bucky could hear the grin in his voice. Of course he’d completely ignore everything but the compliment. 

“Gee, you really know how to compliment a guy,” Bucky said with a roll of his eyes, though he was amused with the way Steve acted. 

Steve snorted next to him as they came out of the bunker, but didn’t say anything as they started sneaking through the camp and towards the nearest road. The fact Steve could keep up with him at all times was slightly intoxicating, though, especially when Bucky sped up. He was not about to admit that he did that on purpose just a tiny bit, but Steve could run just as fast and wasn’t that interesting in itself. Not many could run as fast as a vampire at night, save maybe wolves and centaurs. 

After a while, though, Steve took the lead and weaved through alleyways Bucky never really knew existed. Somehow, he was sure the fact Steve knew them wasn’t exactly a good thing. He wasn’t planning on asking, though, because he could figure this one out by himself given everything he’d learned about Steve so far. Which came down to the fact Steve attracted trouble more than one person should be able to. Who knew how many fights he’d gotten into since coming to the city, let alone in his long life before this point.

* * *

The first thing Bucky noticed when he walked through the door was that Sam sagged with relief as soon as Steve walked up the stairs. The relief morphed into that look of general resignation only Sam seemed to be able to convey. Bucky could appreciate that as an impressive feat even when he was at the receiving end of it, though this time, the look was aimed squarely at Steve, and Bucky was set to enjoy the scene. Subtly, of course, because attracting attention wasn’t recommended at the moment.

“You need a shower,” Sam said, staring pointedly at the blood smeared across Steve’s face and the front of his shirt. The light color of his shirt really did nothing to conceal the red of the blood. 

“It’s nice to see you too, Sam,” Steve said, sounding as snarky as Bucky had come to expect from him. 

“Don’t sass me and get your butt into that shower before I make you,” Sam ordered, and Steve, at least, had enough sense to do what he was told.

“You can take clothes from my room!” Bucky shouted after him. “Find something floral, it’d suit you.”

“Fuck you,” Steve shouted back before disappearing into the bathroom while Bucky laughed. Sam did his best to look stern, but Bucky could see the amusement playing behind the scowl. 

“Where’d you find him?” Sam asked a moment later when the sound of the shower running reached them. “There were no experiments going on, right?”

“He was in Camp Lehigh and he was completely fine. Got himself caught on purpose,” Bucky replied with an exasperated sigh. He could tell this would be an ongoing problem. “Fuck, I hate Jersey,” he added as an afterthought, with a long suffering groan only a person who’s had to fight harpies could manage.

Sam’s snort revealed that he shared the sentiment, which wasn’t exactly surprising. Harpies were a fucking menace. 

“Is that where you picked up every cobweb in existence?” Sam asked, turning and giving Bucky a very thorough once over. “It’s a good look on you. Very menacing.”

“Fuck you,” Bucky said, though there was absolutely no menace behind the words. “I had to crawl through ventilation shafts. If I’d known he let them catch him, I would have left him there.” That was a lie, though, and an obvious one at that. Bucky would never leave anyone behind like that.

“Sure you would,” Sam said, obviously not believing him. 

“Did you find anything?” Bucky changed the subject before Sam caught wind of the other stuff that happened in that bunker.

“I’m attuned to people’s feelings, man, I can tell you two are hornier for each other than you were before,” Sam said, his eyebrow raised in that way that meant he thought Bucky was an idiot. “But if you want to change the subject and talk about this fuckery, fine.”

With that, Sam walked back to the laptop without waiting for Bucky to follow. Not that he was going very far, anyway, sitting at the dining room table where Bucky had left him earlier. He looked right at home there, in Bucky’s apartment with the laptop and a cup of coffee. It didn’t happen very often lately, but Bucky enjoyed Sam’s company after work hours too.

“So, you’re probably not going to like this,” Sam started as he typed away, keys clacking loudly, and Bucky didn’t like it already, “but I found a possible connection between Hydra and Alexander Pierce.”

“That’s great,” Bucky said with another sigh. He sighed way too much for a person who didn’t even need to breathe, but it was probably the best way to show just how done he was with everything. “Really great. For fuck sake,” he added, just to get his point across. “How sure are you?” he asked a moment later, after he sat down next to Sam. 

“I don’t know, maybe he doesn’t know the people he was dealing with are Hydra,” Sam replied just as a photo of Pierce popped up on the screen. “There’s a lot of stuff in these files that I can’t even begin to make sense of. As far as I know, Pierce might just be a pawn in all of this.”

“He always seemed shady, though,” Bucky said, more to himself than to Sam. To be fair, almost everyone seemed shady to him, but some people more than others. He couldn’t help being suspicious of everyone.

Bucky’s phone rang then, drawing both his attention and Sam’s. 

“You should really go home for the day,” Bucky told Sam while he checked the caller ID. “It’s late. I’ll tell you if we find something tomorrow, promise,” he added before Sam could protest. 

“Fine,” Sam agreed, though he didn’t look too happy about it. “But text me if you find something before morning. I’m way too invested in this thing now.”

“Deal,” Bucky said before picking up as Sam got up from the chair next to him. “Hey, Matt,” Bucky said into the phone, ignoring Sam’s raised eyebrow at the name. “What did you find?”

“Nothing,” was all Matt said and he didn’t sound keen on speaking more, unless prompted.

“Okay,” Bucky said, somewhat hesitantly. “What does nothing even mean?”

“Means there was no one there and doesn’t look like anyone’s been there in a long while,” Matt told him. “The place is hidden well, and I don’t think anyone could find it accidentally. There was a metal chair there and what seemed like a cryo tank.”

That didn’t sound very good, but Bucky said nothing. He was sure his stomach would be twisting right about now, though, if it did such a thing.

“What did you do?”

“I torched the place,” Matt replied simply, and Bucky could almost hear that innocent looking smile in the way he spoke. Sometimes he really loved that smile and Matt’s feigned innocence.

“Okay,” he said again, this time with a grin. “Thanks.”

“No problem,” Matt said. “Let me know if you need help again. Maybe you’ll even explain what this was about one day.”

“Sure,” Bucky said, “one day, I’ll tell you. Thanks again, Matt.”

“You’re welcome,” Matt said before the call disconnected. 

“Oh hey, that guy was in the bunker before you showed up,” Steve said from behind Bucky, making both him and Sam turn around to look at him and notice him staring at Pierce’s picture still visible on Bucky’s laptop. Bucky didn’t even hear him come out of the bathroom. “How’d you find him so fast? I didn’t even tell you about his yet.”

“He was there?” Bucky asked, glancing at the picture on the laptop screen before looking back at Steve. 

“You don’t recognize him?” Sam asked, an impressive level of incredulity in his voice. Sam never did anything by halves, really. “Seriously?”

“No,” Steve said, confusion contorting his face. “Should I? I don’t think I’ve seen him before he told me about his grand plans of making an army of super powered humans. Hydra people are idiots, he could have just hired an army of demons or something. You can find those anywhere these days.”

Bucky had to agree with pretty much everything Steve said, but he couldn’t wrap his head around Steve not knowing who Alexander fucking Pierce was.

“Dude, that’s the State Secretary,” Sam said, looking incredibly affronted. “Of the United States of America. How have you never seen his face before?”

“I don’t watch the news,” Steve said with a shrug, “or read the papers. I’m not a fan of politicians.  Or politics, or watching the news.”  

“You know what, I’m just gonna go home, think about my wonderful boyfriend, and you two and this whole conspiracy thing do not exist until tomorrow morning,” Sam said, sounding completely done with everything, and Bucky didn’t blame him one bit. “I will see you both in the morning and so help me, if you don’t work out whatever this is between you by then, I might kill someone. Good night.”

Bucky was really done with all the dramatic exits going on in his building lately. And he was done with Steve seeing what looked like his entire collection of weird and ridiculous clothes Sam got him. He was doing his best to ignore Steve looking all innocent in that ridiculous T-shirt with a giant cute bat and ‘I am the night’ written under it. It was awful. It was also his favorite shirt. 

“So you don’t know who the State Secretary is?” Bucky asked, ignoring the shirt even though the bat was basically staring at him. And Steve looked like he couldn’t wait for Bucky to ask.

“Nope,” Steve said. “I’ve made it a point to avoid all talks of politics since I resigned from the NYPD.”

“You were a cop?” Bucky asked, genuinely surprised at hearing that. It was a career that fit Steve, oddly enough, but Bucky hadn’t considered that Steve had pursued it. 

“A detective,” Steve said with a nod, a melancholic smile playing on his face. “That’s how I met Nat, actually.”

“Oh? You arrested her, I bet,” Bucky said, pretty sure already that he was way off, but couldn’t help but tease. It would have been better only if Natasha was actually there.

“Yup, for prostitution,” Natasha’s voice sounded from the direction of Bucky’s bedroom, and he couldn’t help but glare. 

“What is it with people popping up dramatically? Did you just wait back there for us to mention you or what?” Bucky asked, still glaring towards his bedroom until Natasha showed up.

“No, I was going through your things.”

“We talked about that, Nat,” Steve said before Bucky could get a word out, rubbing his forehead slowly. It looked like he was facepalming to Bucky, but honestly, who could tell anymore. “You really shouldn’t go through people’s things if you’re not working.”

“Who says I’m not?” she asked, a perfect eyebrow raised in challenge.

“Are you?” Bucky asked, suspicious as ever.

“No.”

“So why did you go through my stuff?” Bucky asked, though at this point he was resigned about all of it.

“Curiosity,” she said with a shrug. “You’ve got an interesting collection of clothes. That looks cute on you, by the way,” she said, looking at Steve at the end. Well, Bucky had to agree with that last part. 

“Why are you here?” Steve asked. “You just saw us back in Jersey.”

“Yeah, well, I didn’t know what you found then,” she told them as she moved further into the room before plopping down on the couch and lifting her feet on the coffee table. “Now I do, so I’m here to tell you, boys, to drop this and let the professionals handle this.”

“Handle what?” Bucky asked even though he knew what she meant. He could be a little shit just as much as she was being. 

“Don’t play dumb, Barnes,” she said without even blinking. “It doesn’t suit you. I know what you found and this is where you two drop the matter before someone gets hurt.”

“We’re not gonna get hurt, Nat, come on,” Steve said, completely exasperated. 

“It’s not you two I’m worried about,” she said, just as exasperated as Steve had. Natasha got up from the couch then, before starting for the bedroom where she’d come from. “You’ve been warned now cease and desist, boys, or else.”

Bucky could hear each step she made and he was pretty sure that was only because she let him hear this time. 

“So, what do we do now?” Bucky asked when she was out of sight. 

“We could talk about whether we’re dating now or not,” Steve said, with a teasing grin plastered on his face. “Or we can ignore what she said and keep investigating.”

“You two are totally dating!” Natasha shouted from the bedroom. “And do not ignore me, I will arrest you!”

“I kind of hate her a little,” Bucky said, once again glaring in the direction of his bedroom. He did hate her just a little, but he was also impressed. She was obviously very good at what she did and seemed to be generally pretty kickass. It was increasingly harder to imagine her married to Clint, though, not that it was any of his business.

“You know you don’t!” she shouted again, and this time, before Bucky could shout back at her, he heard the click of his bedroom window being closed. 

“I know how you feel,” Steve said with a snort before he sat down next to Bucky. “So, do you want to ignore her?”

“If my other option is talking about feelings, yeah, we’re gonna ignore her,” Bucky said, laughing a little at the look on Steve’s face. “Hey, you heard her, we’re already dating, and you’re wearing my favorite shirt. Obviously, this is it and taking this to the next level is taking down Hydra. All the couples are doing it.”

“Wow, you’re such a romantic,” Steve joked. “Where have you been all my life?” He was blinking exaggeratedly, a hand over his heart, and Bucky couldn’t help the loud laughter it provoked. Remembering the last time he’d laughed like that was difficult, but he couldn’t bring himself to care about that at the moment. 

Steve leaned forward in his chair then, as close to Bucky as he could in the position he was in, before he reached out and grabbed the front of Bucky’s shirt. The way he pulled Bucky closer was gentle, more of a suggestion than a command, but Bucky went anyway until they were in each other’s space, noses almost touching.

“Are we really doing this?” Steve asked softly, his gaze shifting between Bucky’s eyes and his lips.

“Dating or taking down Hydra?” Bucky asked, sliding his hand over Steve’s thigh, for balance as much as for just feeling Steve. 

“Uh, both, I think?” Steve said, sounding more like a question than a statement. “Yeah, both. Definitely both.”

“Sounds good,” Bucky replied with a grin before he lifted his other hand and slid it along Steve’s jaw until he was cupping the back of his head. He pulled Steve closer until their lips pressed together, and Bucky could feel Steve grin rather than see it. 

The heat of Steve’s lips was almost overwhelming, but he didn’t back away. He parted his lips and let his tongue trace over the line of Steve’s lower lip, enjoying the sound it elicited from Steve. It wasn’t loud, but Bucky heard it clearly and it made him hold onto Steve just a bit tighter. 

Still, the way they were sitting wasn’t exactly comfortable, especially for kissing if Bucky wanted to pull Steve close and actually hold him there. He pulled back, once again feeling Steve’s grin against his lips and Steve’s hands that settled on his hips, warming him through the shirt. It was nice, the warmth Steve radiated, so unlike the perpetual cold that marked Bucky.

“We should probably stop now,” Steve said, “and make a plan first. Not for the dating. For the Hydra business. Before we get sidetracked.”

Bucky laughed, his eyes closed and Steve’s forehead against his. Probably a gesture too intimate considering they’d only just met, technically, but they’ve both lived long enough to be able to recognize something worth pursuing. Bucky wasn’t the most sociable of people so the fact he liked Steve’s company spoke volumes to him. And it wasn’t every day that he was willing to fight Hydra again, so it had to count for something.

“You’re right,” he said, ”I suppose.” Bucky pulled away reluctantly, letting his hand slide along Steve’s skin before he let go. “What do you suggest? We can’t just go after the Secretary.”

“We need to do some recon,” Steve said, leaning back and switching into soldier mode. It was a subtle change, but Bucky saw it without a problem when he was looking for it. “Figure out his movements, see when’s the best time to strike and get a confession out of him. We can’t actually hurt him or anything, so our options are limited.”

“Alright,” Bucky said, nodding as he thought about what Steve laid out. “But they’re still out for both of us and they know where your shop is and where I live, which is a problem.”

“We’re probably good for a while, until someone goes back to Camp Lehigh to check up on those scientists and me,” Steve told him.

“Obviously, you’re not there,” Bucky said. “And those scientists probably woke up by now.”

“Yeah, but would you want to call the head of Hydra and tell them you lost a prisoner only minutes after they left? I think we’ll be okay for a while. And they probably won’t think we’re dumb enough to come back here,” Steve pointed out.

“Are they dumb enough not to check?” Bucky asked.

“Probably,” Steve said with a shrug. 

Well, he wasn’t wrong.

“Okay,” Bucky said. “We’ll do that then. I know someone who might help if we need it,” he added, hoping Matt wouldn’t mind helping out too much. And Sam was keen on helping out, even if it was a bad idea.

“Hey, is it true that vampires can glamour people into doing things?” Steve asked, perking up with interest.

“Kind of,” Bucky started, frowning in confusion. “It doesn’t work on everyone, and I don’t actually do it anymore.”

“How so?” Steve asked.

“It’s wrong, making someone do something they don’t want to,” Bucky said. “I only ever used it to make people forget I fed off of them, before blood banks and synthetic blood replacements were a thing. Why do you ask?”

“I thought we could use it on someone close to Pierce for information, but when you put it like that, it doesn’t sound like a good plan,” Steve admitted, looking slightly ashamed.

“I can still follow him if needed,” Bucky said. “And break into his house.”

“Stalking and breaking into his house isn’t wrong?” Steve asked, quirking his eyebrow.

“He’s the leader of a criminal organization that did a lot of bad in the world,” Bucky started, “so I probably won’t feel a lot of guilt about what happens to him. The people around him, though, might not all be corrupt, and I’m not really up for messing with innocent people.”

“You’re right,” Steve said softly. “We’ll focus on him. Are we gonna resolve whatever this is between us now?” he asked with a grin, repeating Sam’s words from earlier.

“If we finish a plan tonight, I’ll think about it,” Bucky said, but he smiled anyway, leaning over to press another kiss against Steve’s lips before he got to work again. There were other things he’d rather be doing, but Bucky supposed they had this to deal with first. 

“And to think you wanted to stab me when we first met,” Bucky said through a laugh.

“Technically, I still do, just not with a stake this time,” Steve joked, barely containing his grin and Bucky couldn’t help but think this case turned out better than he’d expected. Well, it would have been better without Hydra, but they could handle that. They did make a pretty good team.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Comments are life


	6. Chapter 6

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> art in this chapter by atashiwatashi.tumblr.com

It was kind of easy to forget Bucky didn’t actually need sleep when he was as comfortable as he was, on his bed with a heavy elf shaped weight sprawled on top of him. Sleep seemed to be his best option in that given moment, for as long as Steve slept on top of him, though once he was awake, he didn’t feel the need to fall asleep again. Bucky was really good at not moving for long periods of time and being Steve’s pillow wasn’t the worst of reasons for doing just that.

In all honesty, he was very comfortable like this, and almost distracted enough to ignore the situation they were in, between the flirting and the cuddling that they were apparently doing from now on. They finally had a plan, though, something that took them all night and almost half of the early morning to come up with because neither could afford to be caught or hurt during this. Going after the State Secretary was a big deal, after all, and Bucky still wasn’t too thrilled about that part, but they were kind of left without a choice. At least according to Steve. Bucky wasn’t exactly sure how big of an authority Steve was, but at this point, it was too late to complain about it.

He was determined to make the most of it, for now, to enjoy the peace while it lasted. Bucky suspected it would end once Steve woke up and they set their plan into motion. The first part, at least, was in great part made of the work Bucky normally did, with surveillance and gathering information, figuring out patterns and Pierces movements to find the best time to approach him. The only difference being that their target was someone more dangerous than the average cheating husband, with far better security.

Bucky wasn’t worried as much as he probably should have been.

Somehow, he was confident enough, in the plan and their teamwork, to get through this in one piece before he could go back to the relative normalcy of his life, and that was something he genuinely couldn’t wait for. He’d had more than his fair share of wars, fights and villainy so this was more a nuisance than excitement he’d welcome.

Steve, on the other hand, seemed a bit too ready to take Hydra on again. Maybe it was for the adrenaline, maybe he felt responsible for Hydra surviving the war despite all their best efforts to destroy it. Bucky knew well that most of those efforts were Steve’s alone. Sure, they all fought a common enemy, but Steve was the one that had gotten the closest to it, the one to take down the Red Skull.

Even after all this time, Bucky could remember the rumors about Steve and now, when he actually knew the pretty much legendary elf that led the charge against Hydra, he was more interested in them than he’d been before. Especially the one about the end of the war. As far as Bucky could gather, no one really knew what happened then. There were rumors about a plane with bombs headed for the States that the Captain, and how could he possibly forget that he was called Captain America, somehow managed to get off course.

Peggy never said anything about it, and Bucky didn’t ask, only glad he could go home with the knowledge that he did something good. Maybe he should have asked after all, though it wouldn’t be fair anymore, now that he knew Steve and could ask him whatever he liked directly. His natural curiosity made all the questions run through his head, though not limited just to matters of war, but his life before the war too. Well, this war in particular.

Thinking about that, though, made Bucky think about what was going on, and his curiosity turned to exasperation. He’d really hoped there wouldn’t be a need to fight Hydra ever again. Hell, it wasn’t even his fight anymore, he’d done his part and probably more than was necessary when Peggy asked him to. So did Steve, he was sure.

It made Bucky look down towards Steve, who didn’t even stir the entire time Bucky was awake, his head nestled in the middle of Bucky’s chest with his arms splayed wide, taking up as much space as he possibly could. If nothing else, Bucky was glad he got the biggest possible bed he could have gotten a while ago when Sam made him redecorate.

It was amusing, the way Steve slept with his mouth slightly open, soft gusts of air puffing out along Bucky’s chest. He looked peaceful like this, so incredibly young and as if he had not a single care in the world.

Of course that would have been the exact moment Sam came crashing into the room, barely stopping to look smugly at the way Bucky and Steve were lying there. Steve startled awake, sitting up immediately the moment the door opened loudly and Sam barged in, tablet clutched tightly in his hand.

“What the hell did you two do?” he said, surprisingly calmly after an entrance like that, though Bucky could hear the violent flutter of his wings that revealed how irritated Sam was. “I left for one damn night and you go out and do this, man, what the hell.”

“We did absolutely nothing,” Bucky said, glaring at Sam for waking Steve up. This was the last bit of peace they’d have for a while and he wanted to savor it a bit more.

“That’s a lie,” Steve said at the same time, cackling a little as he glanced at Bucky and his glare. “We cuddled,” he added into the silence of the room and looked incredibly smug, the bastard.

“You’re an ass,” Bucky told him, ignoring Sam for a moment because he couldn’t really let that slide.

“You can’t just ignore me, _Buchanan_ ,” Sam said, doing his best to say that name as slowly as possible, knowing Bucky hated it. “What did you guys do and how in the hell did it work?”

“I think I speak for the both of us when I say we have no idea what you’re talking about,” Steve said without looking away from Bucky. He could make sass seem like a competition.

“I’m talking about this,” Sam said, thrusting the tablet between them. Steve took it, grinning at Bucky as if he won some kind of prize or a challenge before Sam cleared his throat to draw their attention again. Bucky was aware they were being slightly, very, ridiculous, but still. He refused to be ashamed about this considering he was wearing pajama pants with tiny coffins on them.

Bucky didn’t stop looking at Steve, though, which was why he noted the immediate widening of Steve’s eyes as he read and the frown that creased his brow.

“What the hell,” he said before looking up at Bucky, who had to admit he was intrigued now. “Secretary of State, Alexander Pierce, was shot dead by S.H.I.E.L.D. agents early this morning in his Washington residence,” Steve read aloud. “Unofficial reports say he was resisting arrest for charges including, but not limited to, treason, multiple counts of murder and unlawful imprisonment of over hundreds of individuals over the course of at least three decades. Anonymous sources reveal that other arrests have been made,” he continued, voice incredulous before he cut himself off to look up at Bucky. “What?”

Bucky had no idea what to say to that, though the answer came to him barely a moment later. “Natasha,” he said, sounding just as incredulous as Steve had. “How the hell did she manage to set this up this fast?”

That was the question, wasn’t it? Between being in that bunker in Camp Lehigh the day before and visiting them later that evening, there was no way she could have set this raid up on such short notice.

“They had to know about Pierce longer than we did,” Steve said exactly what Bucky had been thinking. “Remember, she only said they had no idea which S.H.I.E.L.D. agents were Hydra, I don’t think either of us thought to ask if they knew who was in charge.”

“And of course she wouldn’t tell us,” Bucky said with a frown. “She never even said what she was up to in Jersey. God, I hate spies.”

“Who are you talking about?” Sam asked, taking his tablet straight out of Steve’s hands, ignoring the indignant ‘hey’ Steve let out as he made grabby hands at the tablet, but didn’t get it back.

“Remember the siren that came by to hire me right before you left for vacation?” Bucky asked, leaning back against the headboard as he looked up at Sam, who nodded in reply. “Yeah, she’s a S.H.I.E.L.D. agent.”

“I said she was suspicious, didn’t I?” Sam said with a pointed look aimed at Bucky. “Wow, someone actually fooled you. She must be something else.”

“Shut up,” Bucky said without any heat behind the words. “So what do we do now?” he asked, turning to Steve and once again ignoring Sam. “I mean, we’re done with this mess,” he added dubiously, hoping Steve agreed with him.

Steve looked slightly lost in thought for a moment. “We could have had a lot of sex last night instead of doing all that boring research,” Steve said in a whisper, and Bucky was sure he was the only one to hear, but the choking sound he let out probably clued Sam in that something was up.

“You have a one track mind, don’t you?” Bucky asked, his eyes narrowed. “This is what you’re gonna focus on now that you don’t have to ride into battle and defeat Hydra all over again?”

“You said we’d test out the magic powers of my dick,” Steve said with a shrug, eyes focused on Bucky, all the while Sam sputtered.

“Oh fuck this, I’m out,” he said, leaving as swiftly as he’d appeared. “Please wait till I leave, I’m closing the office early today!” he said while running away as fast as he could.

“You do that on purpose, don’t you?” Bucky asked, doing a pisspoor job at hiding his grin. “You just like messing with him.”

“Maybe,” he said slyly, and Bucky could see right through him. “Okay, yes, but he started it and you know it.”

“You’re a child.” And Bucky was genuinely amused.

Steve shrugged, looking just as amused as Bucky was. “So what _do_ we do now? This isn’t how I figured things would work out. I’m still not sure if I should yell at Nat or thank her,” he said after a moment, a more serious look on his face.

“I’ve had enough of Hydra for one lifetime,” Bucky said, crossing his arms in front of his chest, “so I’m not exactly heartbroken that we don’t have to get involved after all.”

“So you’re saying we should stay out of it and let Nat and S.H.I.E.L.D. take care of it?” Steve asked, no emotion visible on his face.

“That is exactly what I’m saying,” Bucky said. “We shouldn’t have been involved in the first place, especially you, and there really isn’t much we can do now considering we’re not agents nor soldiers anymore.”

“You’re right,” Steve said, though he didn’t look completely convinced. “I just think I should do more, I mean, it’s my fault they’re still around.”

The words threw Bucky for a loop, something that didn’t happen very often these days, just like being shocked speechless. But how could he not have been when faced with the reason for Steve’s determination to see this thing through instead of letting go when Bucky had given him the opportunity to leave.

“Steve, this isn’t your fault,” Bucky said, reaching out until his hand was cupping the side of Steve’s head. “And Hydra is not your responsibility.” With that, he pulled Steve closer, meeting him halfway until he could wrap his arms around Steve. “You did your best and there was no way for you to know some of them got away to continue the dirty work.”

“I know,” Steve said with a heavy sigh. “I get that, I really do, but I still feel like I should have done more.”

“S.H.I.E.L.D. will finish this,” Bucky said, determined to get the point across. Bringing an end to this personally would mean knowing that Hydra was finished once and for all, but Bucky was more than aware that with Pierce dead, they had absolutely no other leads and no clue as to what still needs to be done.

Steve’s phone beeped then, signalling he’d gotten a text, and Bucky let him go enough for Steve to check it. He hadn’t been expecting Steve to laugh as he read, though, and it made him curious.

“It’s Nat,” Steve said, looking up at Bucky with a laugh. She really did have amazing timing, Bucky almost couldn’t believe it. “She’s letting me know that Hydra is done for. And she says, I quote, ‘You old farts can make out now’ with a smiley face at the end. Do you think she had your place bugged?”

“She’s your friend, you tell me,” Bucky offered with a shrug. Though from what he knew of Natasha, he wouldn’t put it past her.

“It’s a possibility,” Steve said with a small smile, and Bucky couldn’t tell if he was joking or not. Wasn’t sure if he wanted to know, actually. Before he could reply, Steve’s phone beeped again and he glanced down, this time rolling his eyes at the message he got.

“Looks like I’ll have to take a raincheck on our plans,” Steve said, looking up with an amused smile. “Clint says he broke my birds,” he added with a frown.

“What’s up with those birds anyway?” Bucky asked, remembering the shop in clear detail. The birds intrigued him the most given that they weren’t actual living birds, while the tree and grass seemed to be real.

“They’re a combination of mechanics and magic,” Steve said, pocketing his phone. “He didn’t actually break them, they just stop working if I’m away from the shop too long, which is why I should probably go home now,” he continued, looking slightly displeased with that. “It feels like it’s been longer than it actually was.” He wasn’t wrong, though. It’d been roughly a week since this all started and yet it felt like so much longer.

“Yeah, it does,” Bucky said, still leaning back against his headboard as he watched Steve get up from the bed and stretch like an oversized cat. “Does that mean you can actually bring things to life?” Bucky wondered out loud.

“I suppose,” Steve said as he let his arms drop down to his sides. “I can’t bring someone who died back to life, if that’s what you mean. But I can make small inanimate objects move.”

“Those birds were cool,” Bucky said, like the dork he was. “Was that real grass in the shop, though?”

Steve laughed, the corners of his eyes crinkling. He looked so different when he smiled, Bucky couldn’t help but notice. “Yes, that was real grass,” Steve told him before he started looking around for his jeans. “I’m borrowing your shirt, by the way. Wait,” he said suddenly, turning towards Bucky with a look of suspicion on his face. “You’re not gonna sniff the blood on my shirt, are you?”

“Are you serious?” Bucky asked flatly.

“Hey, you’re the vampire here,” Steve said, though Bucky could see and hear the teasing note behind the words. Still, he wasn’t about to let that go without repaying in kind.

“I wouldn’t go after the dry old blood when I have the source right here,” Bucky said, letting his eyes flash dangerously as they did when he wanted to scare someone. He wasn’t aiming for scaring Steve, not that he would be, but there was enough teasing in his voice for his intentions to be more than clear.

“If you wanna drink at the source, you have to ask nicely,” Steve said with an infuriating grin, and Bucky found himself wanting that Steve would stay after all.

“Well, now that’s not fair,” Bucky said, licking his lips as he stared at Steve who gave him a smile before returning to his search for jeans. It was weird he had no idea where they were considering he was the one to put them wherever it was they were.

“Telling you to ask nicely or saying that at all?” Steve asked before he found the jeans, dropping the sweats he was wearing immediately to put his own pants on. Bucky didn’t even have time to startle at the display.

“Both, I guess,” he said, only glancing down at Steve’s ass for a moment. He never claimed he wasn’t weak.

“Well, ask nicely and we’ll see where it takes you,” Steve said with a grin as he turned around and zipped up his jeans. “Unfortunately, not now because I have to go, but you should be aware I’d rather stay to see how nice you can be.” He was still grinning that mischievous grin and Bucky figured he should have probably taken him probably half seriously. After all, he sounded like he did when messing with Sam.

“Duly noted,” Bucky said, getting up from the bed as well. “Though, I’m probably not as nice as you’d like me to be,” he added, grinning a toothy grin, making sure his fangs stood out enough for Steve to see. This time he was going for scary, just to prove a point, but the reaction it invoked in Steve was a first.

“If you’re trying to seduce me, it’s kinda working, but I still have to go now,” Steve said hoarsely, pupils blown wide, focused on Bucky’s fangs, and wasn’t that interesting. Bucky smiled, with less teeth this time, before he closed the distance and kissed Steve for a moment.

“It’s gonna work next time too then,” Bucky said in a light voice, smiling sweetly at Steve as if he hadn’t just discovered something that seemed to turn Steve on.

“You’re right, you are mean,” Steve said, absolutely no heat to his words.

“Never said I was mean,” Bucky pointed out, “just that I wasn’t nice.”

“You’re an ass,” Steve said with a snort, before leaning in and kissing Bucky again. “I’ll see you soon?”

“Wouldn’t have it any other way,” Bucky told him as they walked towards the stairs, and Steve was gone all too soon, leaving Bucky alone in the apartment for the first time in days. It was a weird somehow, despite Bucky being used to being alone.

With both Steve and Sam gone, Bucky found himself going downstairs into the office to make himself useful and look through the new cases. It was a bit weird, looking through requests to find a missing sibling or to prove a client’s painting was stolen by her grandson’s boyfriend, when he’d been looking for Hydra not even a day ago. This all felt unfinished, after being invested in the search then having it taken out of their hands despite how glad he was not to be part of it after all.

But it was out of their hands and there was nothing he could do about it, so Bucky did his best to put it out of his thoughts and focused on the new cases instead.

* * *

Bucky hadn’t been expecting anything much to happen between them when Steve left his apartment those couple of weeks ago after Hydra was taken down. At that point, they’d barely known each other for a week and it hadn’t exactly been smooth sailing from the get go.

Yet Steve had managed to surprise him by stopping by only two days later with a grin and some coffee, ready to help with a case. Bucky had to admit it was fun, working together on something that wasn’t life threatening. Well, for the two of them, at least. Bucky was sure the old lady almost had a heart attack when Steve took his jacket off while wearing a shirt two sizes too small.

That one visit turned into a regular thing, and Steve showed up every few days, as if knowing exactly when Bucky had a case that required him to go out and follow people or something similar. He suspected Sam was the one leaking this information, but it wasn’t like he minded the company; following most civilians was extremely boring after a while.

So the weeks somehow raced by, and Bucky was almost surprised by how much time he’d been spending with Steve and none of it felt weird. Except for the fact that Steve was capable of talking to Sam without mentally scarring him with innuendos and blatant sex talk, but everything else seemed normal. Steve became a constant in the office, and Bucky caught himself considering him a partner several times, something Sam enjoyed too much, but never commented on, surprisingly enough.

Considering they’d seen each other so often, it wasn’t exactly unusual that, when Bucky found himself on a job within walking distance from Steve’s shop, he’d drop by and visit. The shop was all kinds of fascinating and soothing and, even though he didn’t have that much time to read, Bucky absolutely loved books.

The fact that Steve was also there only added to his list of reasons why he liked the place.

The familiar little bell chimed when Bucky opened the door, and Steve immediately looked up from where he was working on something on the counter. He smiled as soon as he saw Bucky, and Bucky couldn’t help but smile right back as he closed the door.

“You chose the right day to come by,” Steve said in way of greeting before turning back to whatever it was on the counter. “I’ve got something for you.”

“If it’s one of those romance novels, you can keep it,” Bucky said as he approached Steve. “Maybe burn it too.”

“What has a romance novel ever done to piss you off?” Steve asked with a grin that suggested he knew exactly why Bucky hated those books.

“We’re not going there again,” he replied with a finality that only made Steve grin wider, but not press the subject.

“Anyway, as I was saying before you interrupted me,” Steve started, fiddling with the thing on the counter until a click sounded and he grinned in triumph, “I have something for you.” There was a softer smile on his face as he looked at Bucky, one that Bucky could appreciate for a moment before the thing Steve was working on sprang to life and took flight with rapid flutter of its wings.

“Is that a bat?” Bucky asked, awed at the black wings flapping above his head.

Steve straightened then, and Bucky could see out of the corner of his eye that he wore Bucky’s ridiculous ‘I am the night’ shirt.

“That is a bat,” Steve confirmed. “I noticed you like them,” he added, subtly motioning towards the bat printed on the front of the shirt he was wearing.

“I do not like bats,” Bucky said stubbornly, though he knew he was fooling absolutely no one.

“That sounds like a lie,” Steve said with a smirk, “but whatever. You’re taking him home with you.”

“Him?” Bucky questioned, glancing back up at the bat and seeing it had settled amongst the birds, hanging upside down on one of the branches. It was fucking adorable.

“Yup,” Steve said and he grinned, mischief obvious in the curve of his lips. “His name is Ernest.”

“You made me a bat and named him Ernest?” Bucky said through a laugh, remembering the cartoon about a vampire called Ernest Sam showed him. It was one Bucky actually ended up liking.

“Yup,” Steve replied, still grinning, obviously thinking he was so clever and, really, it kind of was, but he was gonna stay quiet about it.

“Won’t he stop moving when I take him away from you?” Bucky asked, not even arguing about taking the gift home. Sam would probably find it hilarious, but despite what he’d said, Bucky actually did like bats and this was really an amazing present. He couldn’t wait to actually bring him home.

“It’ll be fine for a couple of days,” Steve said. “And if I come over, it’ll pick up on my magic and won’t break or anything.”

“I guess you should come over for dinner after you close the shop tonight, then,” Bucky said looking into Steve’s eyes with a fond smile. “You know, so Ernest doesn’t die.”

Steve laughed, surprised and amused. “Yeah, I’ll come over for dinner,” he said, “so Ernest doesn’t die.”

Bucky didn’t stay long after that, knowing he would actually have to cook dinner, for Steve at least, before he came over. As he made his way out the door, with a goodbye to Steve, the bat let go of the branch it was hanging off and flew towards Bucky. It flew around his head the entire way home, drawing attention from people on the street. Far more attention than Bucky was used to, but he could let it slide this one time.

It was a thoughtful present, he had to admit, almost a pet, but without actually owning a real bat because that would be stupid. Bats weren’t meant to be pets, which was probably the only reason Bucky hadn’t gotten one in the first place. Probably why Sam bought stuff with pictures of bats instead of getting the real thing, too.

Having an animal, even if mechanical, was better than being alone, though, as Bucky found once he returned home and scoured the kitchen to see what he could cook for dinner. He didn’t care either way, since he wasn’t going to eat, but Sam kept his kitchen pretty well stocked, enough so that he could make something without having to go to the store. Ernest was good company, as it turned out, and the aura of Steve’s magic was comforting to feel.

He wasn’t a fan of how apparent it became that the apartment was fairly empty when Steve wasn’t around, after he became almost a constant fixture there. The fact that Bucky became pretty domesticated in that time was also more obvious that ever, and Sam found it amusing. Bucky was, surprisingly, pretty okay with that. Steve didn’t seem to mind much either, given that he was much the same in that regard.

Ernest kept Bucky company the entire time he was cooking and, embarrassingly so, Bucky caught himself talking to him from time to time, until Steve arrived and the bat was on him immediately. That in itself was pretty amusing to watch, but as soon as Steve’s attention was on Bucky, Ernest found himself a perch on the coat hanger and seemingly went to sleep. It made Bucky consider getting a plant or a small tree for the apartment so the bat could use it as a perch, but the thought lasted only for a moment.

Bucky was more comfortable with Steve in his space than with most people, and it showed, probably enough for Steve to notice as well despite not knowing Bucky for very long. But it was hard not to be comfortable when they had more in common than Bucky had with pretty much anyone. It was only natural, then, that Steve would feel just as comfortable in Bucky’s company, enough to ask questions most people didn’t really dare.

He was settled comfortably on the couch while Steve ate his food next to him, leaning his back against the couch and his arms along the top of the backrest. Neither spoke much while Steve was eating and the sound of something playing on TV provided a pleasant hum in the background.

“So you don’t eat food?” Steve asked, and Bucky turned in time to see him set the plate on the coffee table before reaching for his glass.

“Nope,” Bucky said, letting his head drop back against the couch, gaze settling on the ceiling. “I tried before, but it doesn’t taste all that great.”

“What do you eat, then?” Steve asked, the muffled thud of the glass being set back on the coffee table sounding a moment later.

“I’m pretty sure you’ve heard stories about how vampires feed,” Bucky said with a chuckle.

“So you hunt people around the city, corner them in dark alleyways and drink them dry?” Steve asked drily, and Bucky could just imagine the look on his face and the raised eyebrow.

“Maybe,” Bucky said with a grin, tilting his head to the side so he could look at Steve and see the unimpressed look on his face. “Nah, it’s mostly synthetic blood or blood bags from banks.”

“Would you drink blood from people?” Steve asked, and Bucky was immediately suspicious, but unsure why exactly. “If you had a willing donor?”

Bucky could imagine where Steve was going with this, but couldn’t help the snort he let out. “There are always willing donors, thanks to most of modern literature featuring vampires.” He rolled his eyes just thinking about that and judging from the laugh coming from Steve’s direction, Bucky figured Steve knew exactly what he was talking about.

Barely a moment later, so suddenly that even Bucky was surprised, Steve was in his lap, straddling his hips as he smiled wickedly down at the probably stunned expression on Bucky’s face. His hands were gentle, though, trailing up Bucky’s chest absentmindedly.

“Would you show me what it’s like?” Steve asked, expression turning serious. It wasn’t a question Bucky had been expecting.

                                                  

It was a hell of a change in topic, but it reminded Bucky that he due for feeding in a day or so. After this many years, he only needed blood every couple of days, maybe a week if he hadn’t been doing anything too strenuous. That was probably the reason most vampires combined drinking blood with sex, now that they didn’t have to rely on hunting people to survive. Not to mention the bond it created, when feeding off some creatures who had a tendency to mate for life.

Bucky sat up, bringing his hands to Steve’s jaw, pulling him down until their lips could meet. Steve went along with it, kissing Bucky with an ease that came after weeks of making out like horny teenagers whenever they could get away with it. The soft slide of Steve’s lips against his was a familiar sensation by now, as was the rasp of his stubble under Bucky’s fingers and against his chin.

Yet at the same time, every time they kissed was like the first. He had no idea how else to describe it, the thrill that ran through him and the excitement bubbling in his chest.

He hadn’t answered Steve’s question yet, but Steve hadn’t tried to break the kiss, his hands coming up and sliding along Bucky’s shoulders until he wound his arms around Bucky’s neck. Bucky broke the kiss then, far from unfazed, but breathing easier than Steve, completely due to the fact he didn’t actually breathe at all. He pressed their foreheads together, looking into Steve’s eyes to see how serious he was about this.

“You want me to bite you?” Bucky asked in a low voice, without teasing or judgement. He wasn’t opposed to it, but he had to know Steve understood what might happen if he did.

Steve nodded, looking back at Bucky without wavering. It looked almost like a challenge and Bucky wasn’t intent on backing down so he smiled, then grinned with his fangs on display.

Bucky kissed him again, deep and consuming, Steve’s mouth hot against his. He could feel Steve’s lower lip catch on his fangs, and a shiver ran down his spine, but the skin didn’t break. Steve only smiled against him, pushing forward until Bucky was leaning back against the couch again.

The kiss broke then, Steve pulling away so he could look at Bucky from where he sat in his lap, big warm hands cupping his jaw gently. His thumbs traced along Bucky’s cheeks slowly, gently, reaching for the corner of his mouth before tracing along his lower lip. He moved his left hand to the side of Bucky’s face to gently make him tilt his head up. Bucky went along with what Steve was silently asking of him, letting him do as he pleased for the time being.

With Bucky’s head tilted up, Steve had a better view of his mouth and he gently caressed Bucky’s lower lip before moving to the upper. He tugged at Bucky’s upper lip gently as he hooked his other thumb over Bucky’s chin, guiding him to open his mouth.

Bucky stayed silent, not just because Steve was holding his mouth open, and kept completely still, resting his hands on Steve’s thighs for a moment. Steve was looking at his fangs intently, and Bucky let him, letting them grow the way they did before he bit into someone’s jugular, and Steve’s pupils dilated at the sight. His grip on Steve’s thighs tightened before he let go, sliding his hands up until they could settle on Steve’s hip bones, holding him in place, gentle enough for Steve to move if he wanted to.

Steve only leaned forward, though, biting into Bucky’s lower lip before sucking on it, smiling smugly at the sound Bucky made. He couldn’t say he minded too much, though, as he slipped his hands under Steve’s shirt, feeling the shiver run through Steve. It was very gratifying, not to mention attractive, and enough to make Steve break the kiss and gasp against Bucky’s lips.

“Still want me to bite you?” Bucky asked softly, pulling out his right hand from underneath Steve’s shirt to trace a thumb along the side of Steve’s neck.

“Yes,” Steve said, relaxing under Bucky’s hands.

“Then take your shirt off,” he ordered, grinning at the pleased look on Steve’s face before he followed through, stretching gracefully as the slid the shirt off, and it disappeared to his side, not that Bucky cared particularly when Steve leaned towards him again.

Bucky put his hand back where it was on the side of Steve’s neck, tracing the heartbeat he already knew before he leaned up enough to place his lips on the same spot, kissing the skin of Steve’s neck and grinning at the relaxed hum he could feel vibrate in Steve’s throat. He kissed along Steve’s jugular as he slid his arm around Steve’s middle, holding him close as his other hand caressed along his neck until his fingers tangled in the short hairs at the nape of his neck.

He waited a moment, his lips pressed against Steve’s skin, until Steve slid both hands around Bucky’s neck and into his hair, holding onto the strands tightly. With that, Bucky opened his mouth wider and sank his fangs into the side of Steve’s neck, blood pouring over his lips with the first gasp Steve let out.

It was different from anything else Bucky had tasted, his eyes falling shut at the sensation of genuine warmth coursed through him. He was lost in the taste, though he stopped sucking on Steve’s neck soon after his fangs broke skin, but he could still feel it even after nicking his own lip with his fang and kissing the wound so it’d heal faster.

He almost felt like he was on fire, warmth coursing through him like it hadn’t in far too long and it was a far more intense feeling than after any other feeding he’d gone through. Bucky imagined sunshine would taste like that and he could, grudgingly, admit that there was something in those stupid overly romanticized tropes about vampires and elves.

Bucky’s eyes opened, and he was honestly unsure when they’d closed in the first place, immediately seeing Steve looking right back at him. He felt light somehow, even with Steve’s weight still on him.

“You look high,” Steve said, chuckling with amusement.

“I think I am,” Bucky replied, almost completely certain he was actually speaking. “This may be better than sex, Stevie,” he added, awed and slightly catatonic and half sure he was talking nonsense.

“That would suck for me, wouldn’t it,” Steve replied and confirmed Bucky was in fact talking out loud.

“Stevie, you taste like the sun,” Bucky said, sounding slightly drunk to his own ears. He hadn’t been drunk since he was turned and he didn’t miss it at all.

The sound of Steve’s laughter above him snapped him out of it, kind of, and Bucky managed to focus on Steve’s face for a moment.

“Are you alright?” Steve asked as if Bucky wasn’t over the moon at the moment.

“I’m perfect,” Bucky replied dreamily, drawing out another laugh from Steve. It was such a nice laugh, he wished he could hear it more often.

Steve just continued laughing, his eyes crinkling at the corners. “Thanks, yours isn’t too bad either,” he said and Bucky sat there, confused for a moment before he realized he’d spoken out loud and really, if he became like this after a sip or two of Steve’s blood, he’d either have to build up his tolerance for it or just never do it all together.

The next moment, Steve was slowly standing up which of course meant he was getting off Bucky’s lap, which Bucky tried to prevent, but didn’t quite succeed in doing. Steve looked very amused by it all and very hot without that shirt, and Bucky really couldn’t figure out why he wasn’t all over Steve.

“Come on, let’s get you to bed,” Steve said as he took Bucky’s hand and pulled him up from the couch, laughing as he led the way to the bedroom because Bucky couldn’t keep his hands to himself, now that he noticed Steve was shirtless.

“And what are you gonna do to me in bed?” Bucky asked with a ridiculously obvious waggle of his eyebrows, even if Steve couldn’t really see him from where he was.

Steve said nothing in reply, though, on their way to the bedroom, dragging Bucky along by the hand that wasn’t groping Steve’s naked chest, and Bucky was actually impressed with himself for the fact he was somehow managing that from where he was walking behind Steve. They were both quiet as they walked, Bucky taking the opportunity to press against Steve’s back as best as he could, even if it was awkward to do while walking.

He was quickly manhandled onto the bed, though, as soon as they were close enough to it, and Bucky found himself on his back with Steve peering down at him with a grin. With how devious he was looking, Steve could have passed as a vampire as well right then, but Bucky said nothing, only grinned back.

Steve undid the laces of his shoes without a word, removing them from Bucky’s feet before he started on the zipper of his pants, and Bucky was sure he’d be short of breath, had he actually been breathing. He was as helpful as he could be, lifting his hips so Steve could pull the pants off. Bucky sat up and took his shirt off himself, before Steve even looked up at him, but he snorted once he saw Bucky’s shirt was off.

“Take your pants off,” Bucky said in a low, and hopefully seductive voice, watching closely as Steve did precisely that.

Bucky licked his lips, waiting for Steve to join him on the bed, as patient as ever, but even he couldn’t stop the indignant sound that slipped from his mouth when Steve moved away from the bed instead of climbing on it. He was back barely a moment later, wearing a pair of bat pajama pants with a different pair in his hand that he threw straight at Bucky’s head.

“This isn’t going how I thought the night would go,” Bucky said with disdain, but put the pants on nonetheless.

“I agree,” Steve replied, finally climbing onto the bed next to Bucky once they were both wearing pants again. Comfy pants, but pants all the same. “But you’re half high, which we’re gonna talk about tomorrow, and I’m doubting your decision making capability at the moment so sex is off the table.” Even if he was reluctant to agree, Bucky could see the sense in Steve’s words and did his best to bite back the childish retort that he could make decisions.

He was sure he could, really, but if Steve was reluctant, he wasn’t in the mood to try and persuade him to change his mind. After all, he did have first hand knowledge of how stubborn Steve was.

“Whatever you say,” he said instead, calmly and with a smile to show that he was genuinely okay with that.

The thought about complaining left his mind, though, not even a moment later when Steve sidled closer to him, wrapping an arm around Bucky’s middle to pull him closer. He pressed his lips against the side of Bucky’s head, nuzzling softly into his hair.

Bucky couldn’t find a reason to complain about this, turning enough so he could drape himself over Steve’s chest, shaking with the vibrations of Steve’s laughter. He lifted his head, dragging himself up a bit, enough to press his lips against Steve’s. He could remember, vaguely, that the need for closeness rose in those that let a vampire feed off them and Bucky was fine with just lying like that, with the strong beating of Steve’s heart underneath him.

“Didn’t think you’d agree to this without a fight,” Steve said once Bucky broke the kiss.

“I’m not the stubborn one here,” Bucky replied before biting into Steve’s lip gently, not hard enough to draw blood. Steve laughed at the words, though, while batting at Bucky to let go of his lip.

“Stop that,” he said, laughing all the while. “Thought you were gonna behave.”

“Never said that,” Bucky said, teasing in his voice. “I’m not nice, remember,” he added, wrapping his arms around Steve so he could roll them over until they were both lying on their sides, turned face to face with their noses touching every time Steve inhaled.

Bucky kissed his nose, moving to his mouth next as he wiggled one of his legs between Steve’s thighs. Steve laughed yet again, and Bucky smiled in turn, enjoying the sound more than he thought he would.

“Sure, whatever you say, sweetheart,” Steve said, amusement coming off him in waves because of the pet name, and Bucky had to admit, no one ever called him that in such a light tone, with affection and adoration and just enough laughter that he couldn’t tell how serious Steve was being about it.

“When I’m less high on whatever it is in your blood, I’m gonna make it up to you,” Bucky said, biting into the other side of Steve’s neck, lightly this time, with the barest hint of teeth just to feel Steve shiver at the feeling. “I’m pretty sure I’m set to go without feeding for at least two weeks from this.”

“You know, you sound just like the vampires in Sam’s romance novels,” Steve said with that familiar infuriatingly sassy grin on his face, and Bucky bit him again, still not hard enough to break skin, but it made Steve laugh this time.

“Wait till tomorrow and I’ll make you eat those words,” Bucky said, his voice deliberately low in a way he knew Steve liked.

“I’ll hold you to that,” was all Steve said before kissing Bucky again, and Bucky couldn’t help but think that the night didn’t turn bad at all.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This is it, this is the story and I end it with the announcement that this is now the first part of a series!!!  
> I'll be definitely writing Bucky's past and the war, but also oneshots in this AU, one of which is already planned ^^
> 
> Thank you for reading and I hope you liked it enough to comment ^^


End file.
